Chibi Itachi
by depthoffury
Summary: He fell for one of Orochimaru's jutsus but, will he ever be back to normal again? A kunnoichi we all know guides him through it all and falls in love with him on the way. The little otouto doesn't like this at all. R
1. Chapter 1

**BECAUSE NOBODY CARES TO TELL ME HOW TO MAKE A NEW CHAPTER AND I DON'T KNOW HOW THEN I'M GOING TO SEE IF I CAN**** MAKE ALL THE CHAPTERS IN 1... I****f you catch my drift... JUST CHECK THE BOTTOM OF THE STORY EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE WHEN IT SAYS THAT I UPDATED... I ACCEPT ALL KINDS OF REVIEWS AS LONG AS YOU REVIEW****:-)**

**I Do Not Own Naruto**

Uchiha Itachi woke up from his sleep. Getting off his bed, he ran his fingers through his long onyx hair. Heading for the door he stopped. Itachi looked at the doorknob. It was more or less at his eye level. Why was he suddenly so short? He ran to the mirror to look back at himself. He had significantly changed into the body of his six year old self.

He was wearing his usual mesh shirt and black pants; looking the same except for that he had to be several feet shorter than normal. The two lines that had once been a part of his face were gone, revealing a small cute face with deep black eyes instead of his usual sharingan. 'I could seriously pass as Sasuke's twin when he was younger. Why didn't anyone ever say he looked like me? Although I doubt I would've kept them alive long enough for them to say it.' The little Itachi thought.

"Why am I so small?" Chibi Itachi questioned his reflection, almost expecting an answer. He couldn't rip his eyes off the tiny version of him. His small almost high voice made him cringe.

The door opened and Kisame burst in. "Itachi!" he yelled searching every where until his eyes fell upon the kid in front of him. He looked lost, confused, and hopeless.

Before Itachi could think about his next words, he spoke as in on reflex, "Who are you? Where are my parents? Where am I?" He lost all memory of being any older then he was now.

Kisame stared at Itachi, his eyes going wide with realization. "Itachi, is that you?"

He nodded. Kisame looked at the boy and started rolling on the floor, laughing really hard.

Regaining his posture he stood up and yelled for the rest of the Akatsuki members to come.

The first one to come was Deidara. "What happened…un?" He stopped and stared at the kid. "Who is this…un?" By now the blonde was starting to freak out.

Itachi was now trying to calm himself down by talking. "Why are you staring at me? Where am I? Who are you? I demand that you tell me now before I kill you."

A light seemed to turn on in Deidara's head. "This pipsqueak is Itachi-sama?" Kisame nodded smirking at the comment.

"I am not a pipsqueak! I'm gonna be a genin soon!" The angered chibi Itachi ran at them at full speed, trying to land a hit. They easily dodged and caught him at the mesh shirt. He squirmed, "LET ME GO!"

"Hey Deidara, where are the others?" Kisame questioned realizing no one else was coming.

"Missions…un"

"Well then, call Leader and tell him the situation."

As the blonde left, Kisame tied Itachi up to a chair.

"Wow, one of the best members of the Akatsuki is six. Leader is going to seriously hit the roof on this one." Kisame chuckled.

Deidara went to the Akatsuki leader and explained Itachi's dilemma.

"How did this happen?"

"We don't know…un"

"He needs to be turned back! We can't have some 6yr old brat running around our headquarters!"

"What do we do…un?" Leader started to explain his plan.

Just as leader had said, they tied and blindfolded Itachi in a place where he can't find the way back. Then they knock him out so he wouldn't do anything they don't want him to do.

Amazingly they left him only about 5 miles from Kanoha.

Sakura jumped from tree to tree, very eager to get home after such a long mission. Just as she was not too far from the village she saw a little boy, tied up and unconscious.

She jumped down and carefully examined his body seeing no wounds or scars she looked at his face. 'He looks just like a little Sasuke-kun'

Sakura just couldn't leave him here; he could die if he stayed. Picking him up gently, she continued her way back to her home. She would take care of this little boy until he woke.

Itachi eventually woke up in a beige room on a large white bed. A sleeping pink-haired kunoichi of about seventeen sat on a chair next to the bed leaning the upper half of her body on the side of the bed. He sat wondering where he was and pulling out a kunai just in case.

The kunoichi woke up and looked over at the boy she had brought to her home a few hours ago. He tensed at seeing her wake up so suddenly. Her emerald eyes took one look from the kunai in his hand to his slightly scared face.

"Calm down kid. No one is going to hurt you. I'm Haruno Sakura. What's your name?" Sakura asked curious as ever.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi."

**If anybody knows how to add the next chapter, advice would be greatly appreciated. This is my first story ever and ****I have no idea what to do here****! Also if you want pairings in this story just tell me, I'm up for ideas. Pl****ease R&R people****! I'll update as soon as I figure out how I'm gonna add chapters or if I just feel like it**

"Can you say that again?" Sakura seemingly thought it was the Asprin she took earlier playing tricks on her.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi" he repeated for her, losing what little patience he had.

"Itachi? You know if you were trying to prank somebody kid you could've at least looked in your twenties or something...or at least have worn an Akatsuki robe. But, I'll give you some credit. I mean you did get the Uchiha look right, but you look more like Sasuke." Sakura stated looking at the amateur in front of her. This was one prank that was definitely not thought through. HE should've at least seen Naruto about this kind of thing. It sounds like something he'd do.

"Why would I wanna look older? I am Uchiha Itachi. Why are you talking about those weird guys? One was a big fish and the other wouldn't stop saying 'un'. They were freaks who dumped me in the forest, and last of all, why are you talking about my baby brother? He barely turned 1 not too long ago." The confused boy sat back down on the bed trying to solve a problem that seemed impossible.

Now at that Sakura was confused. Could it be that the Itachi has turned six? "Ano...Itachi...who do you think is the current Hokage?" She needed to find out whether this was some kid with a prank or really the Akatsuki member.

"Sarutobi-sama, the Third Hokage." He was even more confused at the seemingly worthless question.

"Um...no... The Third has...retired. Now there is the fifth: The Godaime (sp?) Tsunade-sama." She half lied. Something was going on and she needed to find out what. Then she saw the ring.

The Akatsuki ring was on his small finger in clear view. She couldn't stop staring at it. How did this kid get the ring?

"Hey, where did you get that?" She asked still having her fixed gaze.

Chibi Itachi looked down at the ring. "I don't know it was there when I woke up and then the fish man came in the room." He gazed at it unmoving like Sakura.

"Scarlet" he read the kanji on his ring aloud.

Sakura decided right then and there that she needed to do something about this kid. Her mind kept bringing up thoughts like _'Kill the weasel. He's right there, so just kill the weasel.'_

Pushing away her thoughts she decided she was in need of some help on this.

"Um… Itachi would you like to see the Hokage? She is really nice and needs to see you." She needed to tell Tsunade-sensei about this.

He simply nodded right before she picked him up and went to the roof. She went from one to another, Itachi in her arms, and made her way to the Hokage tower.

* * *

Tsunade looked from the sake in her hand to the piles of paperwork on her desk. Slightly drunk she commanded the paperwork, "Burn in a freak accident, you evil paper!"

A knock on her door interrupted her ranting at the piles of work.

"Come in," she sighed. This was seriously annoying to be walked in on. _'And I think the paper was just about to burn. Oh well.'_

Sakura walked in carrying a child that seemed to look just like a young Sasuke. Unfortunately, the Godaime got an entirely wrong idea.

_'I know she used to love Sasuke, and now that he came back she's been happier, but I didn't think she still loved him enough to bear his child.__ When did this happen anyway?__ Am I just drunk?' _

Many things were running through her head and she almost didn't hear what the kunoichi was about to say.

"Tsunade-sama, I found this kid who claims to be Uchiha Itachi. He even has the Akatsuki ring with him." Sakura spoke, putting down the curious Itachi. He just stared at the Hokage who had a rather shocked look on her face.

The fifth did not see that coming. She needed proof of this. "Child, tell me what proof do you have of this?"

He was confused. "Why does everybody say that word? First it was the blue fish man, then Sakura-san, and now you. What is Akatsuki?"

The blonde Hokage had an unreadable face as she demanded, "Who was this fish man? Did you know his name? Where were you when this happened? More importantly, what happened?"

Still confused, Chibi Itachi told his story of the guys that were called Kisame and Deidara. Of course he didn't remember anything before Kisame burst into his room, although he was thoroughly questioned on that.

Tsunade then asked Shizune to take Itachi and entertain him as she talked with Sakura.

* * *

Sakura looked at Itachi as he was being guided out of the room before turning her full attention to Tsunade.

"This is serious Sakura. No child would have had that ring and know the names of the Akatsuki members. Not to mention the likeliness to the Uchiha clan. Something must be done. He is a missing S-ranked ninja. We have to have him locked up, so I'm going to need you to take a scroll explaining the situation to the council and have them talk it over." Tsunade instructed as she started writing out the scroll for Sakura.

Sakura could not believe her ears.

"But Tsunade-sama, this is a great opportunity. If we make sure he can't kill anybody then if he goes back to normal he might not want to. Besides, he's a child. We need to take care of him. I'll do it if I need to."

Now Sakura was confusing herself. _'Wait. You're not supposed to be protecting him. He killed the entire Uchiha clan. You are supposed to hate him. He made your friend miserable and was trying to take the other one until now.'_

Tsunade seemed to sense Sakura's confusion but, she saw the point that was being raised and said, "Very well then. Take care of him. Make sure that he doesn't get into trouble. Oh and keep him away from Sasuke. He'd certainly want to kill him."

Sakura nodded and walked out to find Itachi.


	2. Chapter 2

Sakura looked down at the sad little chibi lying on her sofa crying silently. She remembered the look on his face when she told him that his family went on a trip and that she was going to take care of him at her place while they were gone. He was and is sad, lonely, and missed his family.

_'This is going to be harder then I thought.'___

A knock on her apartment door took her out of her thoughts. _'Oh no…if somebody sees Itachi they'll tell Sasuke and who knows what he'll do…'_

Cautiously, Sakura opened the door. Seeing who it was made her sigh with relief; it was only Hinata.

"Hello Hinata-chan; what's up?" Sakura asked hoping it wasn't anything important.

"A-ano…I wanted t-to know…if you wanted to go get some r-ramen." Hinata still stuttered from time to time.

Apparently, Itachi had heard this and came running to the door now smiling. "Can I come too, Sakura-san?"

At that, Sakura's hope sank. "Who is that, Sakura-chan?" Hinata had just asked the worst question. In the insanity of the moment she decided to say the only thing that could come to her mind at the moment, "Its just you're imagination…There's no one here but you and me…" She stuck with the very obvious lie that had escaped her lips.

Hinata gave her a look that demanded Sakura to tell the truth. So she told her friend everything while Itachi starred at the white-eyed Hyuga. "Hinata, whatever you do you can't tell anyone; especially not Sasuke…who knows what he'd do to him?"

The shocked Hinata still stood at the doorway, nodding slightly.

Itachi had listened to the whole thing but still only had one thing on his mind at the time. "Can we go get some ramen now, Sakura-san?"

* * *

Sakura had put a hat on Itachi and told him that in public his name would be Koji. He liked this name although he didn't understand why he needed it. She also told him that if anyone asked Sakura was his cousin. He agreed to this too so Hinata, Itachi, and Sakura went off to Ichiraku's (**A/N: Is that right?). **

Sasuke was training by himself. Once he was actually tired he decided to go to Ichiraku's for some ramen. It had been a while since he last ate and he was hungry. Also eating helped him eat and he needed a plan to come thru with the second half of what he swore to do. He needed to restore his clan and he needed Sakura to do that. Walking over he started thinking a bit. Sakura was the only one left. Ino had gone after Chouji, TenTen was seeing Neji, Hinata and Naruto were inseparable, and Temari was courting with Shikamaru (**A/N: Am I forgetting someone?)**. Lee had gotten over his crush on Sakura a while back and instead was more like a brother to her so that took care of that problem.

Although that didn't explain how he was going to make Sakura his…His ranting in his head had taken the entire walk so as he stepped inside he barely noticed that the three stools were taken, and one of them by Sakura.

This was perfect. "Hello Sakura."

Sakura was obviously shocked to see him. She glanced nervously from Hinata to the kid sitting in between them. Hinata had looked kind of nervous as well.

Suddenly Hinata spoke up, "Sakura, I'll take Koji-kun to get some ice cream. See you two later." Hinata grabbed the kid and walked out of their while Koji whined about not finishing his ramen yet but gladly left at the reminder of ice cream.

He turned his attention to Sakura. She was looking at where Hinata and Koji left.

"It's been a while Sakura." Sasuke spoke again

* * *

Sakura smiled weakly at the boy she once loved. That dream seemed so far away now. She hardly thought of him like that anymore.

"Sasuke, what brings you here?" She asked.

"My stomach."

His replies were always like that; short, to the point as if the answer was very obvious. He had his ways to make her feel stupid and that was one of them. Sakura hated it when he did that.

"Oh, right. Well I have to get going. Later, Sasuke." She took off towards the only place in Kanoha with ice cream.

By the time she finally caught up with Hinata, Itachi was a mess. A strawberry flavored mess that still had a lot of ice cream to go.

She looked at him for a while before saying to Hinata, "Wow. He's eating it but it misses his mouth every time. I wonder where he learned to eat with his face."

Hinata giggled at that and the two kunoichi tried to clean his pink face.

* * *

_Bodies lay on the ground of the Uchiha mansion. They were his family. Who did this to them?__ Looking down at his hands, he saw they were covered in blood. His family's blood. He found that he was older and stood in front of his parent's room. Unwillingly he entered and saw that his parents were still alive. _

_A sword was in his hands and the next thing he knew his parents were on the floor, alive no longer. __Soft footsteps approached the door as it opened._

_A little boy, about six, walked in the door and was horrified by the sight. It was Sasuke, his little brother. He demanded to know why he did it, why he had killed them all._

_"To test my abilities." He answered. It seemed he was not in control of his body __or__ words. "To test your abilities?" Sasuke echoed. _

_"You are not even worth killing. Foolish little brother….If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run and cling to life." (_**A/N: That's what the subtitles said in the Japanese version I saw**)

Itachi woke up screaming and Sakura burst through the door, a kunai in hand. "What is it? What happened?" She demanded to know why she was awaked by such a frightened Itachi.

"I killed them. My family is gone and my little brother wants to kill me." He sobbed and looked up only when a pair of arms slid around him in a comforting embrace.

* * *

"It was all just a dream. It wasn't real." Sakura lied and tried to comfort him. He may have been a killer and a member of the Akatsuki but right now he was a child, and this child had a very bad dream. Only it wasn't a dream.

Sakura heard his crying lessen and hoped for the best. She sighed and asked him, "Are you okay? Will you be able to go back to sleep?" He nodded and asked, "Sakura-san, can I sleep with you tonight?"

The next morning, Sakura wakes up and sees the little Itachi's arm around her waist, his face in a look of worry. She ran her fingers through his long hair and gently got out of bed without waking him. She took a shower and got dressed. Brushing her hair, she walked into the kitchen to start making breakfast.

What, or rather, who was there waiting on the sofa shocked her to no end. "SASUKE?!?" Sakura was not expecting _him. _

"Hello Sakura. Are you…doing anything today?" Sasuke smirked at her.

That was it. She cracked. Sakura started to twitch with anger; her face started getting redder by the second. Sasuke smirk turned into a frown at the sight of Sakura's angry form.

"You scared me to death because you wanted to know what I was doing today?!? Of all the things…" He was amazed she hadn't tried to pummel him to ground yet. She had managed to keep her voice down for fear of waking up Itachi, especially since he had so much trouble sleeping last night.

**'Why do you care? It's Itachi we're talking about. He killed his own clan. I say just kill the weasel!' **Inner yelled at her over again.

Sakura started to think further in what she had said, again.

* * *

Sasuke looked at the still twitching kunoichi in front of him. Her face was still red but she stopped yelling. It looked more like she was fighting herself.

Sasuke decided to see if he could pull Naruto's act of innocence. "Ne…Sakura-chan…are you okay?"

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Sasuke and whispered softly, "Can't you forgive your brother?"

Now Sasuke was confused. "What does this have to do with Itachi?" Sasuke demanded.

Then the same kid from Ichiraku's came walking out of the room. "Sakura-san, who's that," the kid asked looking right at Sasuke.

* * *

A/N: Hi! I hope that's not too cliffy for you but I stop it there. **Tell me what you want Sasuke to do to Chibi Itachi. Then again Sakura wouldn't let him do any thing…**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks to the few of you who reviewed. **** I just figured how to add chapters. I'll try to update as much as possible.**** Sorry if you don't like this chapter but in a way it's a filler chapter and those are kind of boring. ****OOC-ness for Itachi! He blushes….**

Sakura jumped at the sound of Itachi's voice. She turned to him and decided to play it out.

"Koji-kun, this is Sasuke. He's my friend and my comrade." Then she turned to Sasuke and said, "Sasuke, this is my cousin Koji-kun and he's staying with me for a while."

Sakura hoped she didn't look as nervous as she felt because Sasuke kept looking from her to Itachi. Itachi had his hair partly in front of his face and you could only tell the resemblance if you squinted really hard.

She turned to Koji and said to him, "Koji, the academy starts today, so why don't you go and get ready while I talk to Sasuke." Itachi knew she didn't want another person to know about him for some reason so he just nodded and walked away.

Itachi got some clothes Sakura got for him and went to the bathroom. –Skips the bathroom part- After getting out he smelled breakfast. He ran into the kitchen and gazed hungrily at the stack of pancakes waiting for him on the table.

Sasuke had left by now and so there was no need to stay in the room so he could eat.

'THERE'S _FOOD!!!'_

The breakfast was devoured quickly and he was just finishing the last one when Sakura walked in. She smiled at him and asked, "Ready?"

Itachi nodded and as they started walking to the door he asked, "Sakura-san, why did that guy have the same name as my little brother?"

Sakura thought she should tell him the truth but, how would he take it? This is a hard question. So she decided.

"Um…It's a common name these days. There's um…I think one in every country…He's not you're brother…" She lied.

Sakura signed Itachi up at the ninja academy (There's no other academy anyway) and left him with her old sensei, Iruka, who was going to put him in his current class.

Itachi was introduced to the class – as Koji of course – and took a seat near the back. They were going over survival skills. Itachi always wanted to be a ninja so he had done plenty of training with his father before the academy.

Iruka-sensei announced that they were going to do some shuriken training outside. All of the students ran out side and lined up in front of the thick wooden poles (**A/N: think when Sasuke did shuriken training at school…yup…you got it…)**.

First up was Konohamaru, a kid with green goggles and a cape, and he didn't hit the pole at all. Then it was a white eyed girl, Hanabi, who landed one. Both of Konohamaru's friends got two. The rest got a few but not all of them.

Soon it was Itachi's turn. "Okay, Koji, try your best, and remember try not to hit anyone." Iruka-sensei told him and was ready to block any stray shuriken and kunai. Itachi pulled out 5 kunai and shuriken for each hand. He, effortlessly, threw them all and walked to the back of the line without looking back.

The rest of the class gasped and Itachi casually looked back. Every one that he had thrown hit the pole. Many of the kids turned to look back at him. All of the eyes made him blush no matter how he was acting earlier.

Suddenly after seeing him blush, the girls squealed and started whispering. The guys all mumbled angrily. Itachi kept turning redder and hid behind a bush.

Iruka-sensei told them that they would also be working on their Tai jutsu so they should pair up and practice. All the girls swarmed around the still red Itachi and the guys stared at the girls and sighed.

_'This is gonna be a long day…'_

Sakura looked at her clock…almost lunch time…She was supposed to meet Sasuke for lunch. It was all part of their agreement. She thought back to what they had said.

**Flashback**

_Sakura watched Itachi leave before turning back to Sasuke. Then she asked her anger gone completely, "__What was it you wanted again?" Sasuke smirked and said, "I wanted to know if you would like go out to lunch with me today." _

_She just smiled mischievously__, "Only if you stop coming into my apartment without me knowing." Sasuke frowned, "If I had known the price would be that high I would've asked for more then one date."_

_At this her smile faltered a bit too. "Take it or leave it. It could've been worse. I could've been too busy with Koji-kun to care."_

_Sasuke took the offer and left. Sakura smiled and went to the kitchen to make breakfast._

**End Flashback**

Now Sakura's hospital shift was over so she started towards Ichiraku's to meet with Sasuke.

_'I wonder how Itachi is doing.'_

The rest of Itachi's day wasn't so good. The girls swarmed around and wouldn't leave him alone and the boys shunned him because the girls wouldn't leave him alone.

Girls wouldn't stop saying, "Koji-kun, do you want to go out some time?" or "Koji-kun, sit next to me!" Itachi seemed to find it extremely annoying. Hanabi and Moegi seemed to fight over him the most.

**(A/N: I might know what** **you're thinking: that I'm basically redoing Sasuke's childhood all over again. Also that when Sakura and the others are 15, Konohamaru has graduated from the academy. This is all true. Let's just pretend the second one isn't. Okay? Okay.)**

Konohamaru seemed to hate him the most because he 'took Hanabi from him'. Itachi was thoroughly annoyed so the next time Hanabi tried to make a move on him, instead of blushing, he looked right at her with a very bored look and said, "Hanabi-san, you're annoying." Itachi didn't like being so rude but that was the only way to get her to leave him alone.

Hanabi looked mortified so Itachi came up with an idea. _'They liked me when I started blushing so it's probably best not to respond to them.'_

This didn't seem to work. Every single girl now thought he was the mysterious and handsome type. It was going to be a long time before graduation.

_'Where's Sakura-san when I need her?'_

Sakura arrived at Ichiraku's to see Sasuke waiting for her. He had that famous Uchiha smirk plastered on his face.

**'What does it take to wipe that smirk off his face?!?!' **Inner Sakura yelled. Sakura sometimes couldn't help but to agree.

"Hello Sakura. How've you been?" Sasuke asked. She answered with a simple fine and sat down.

Sasuke looked at his date. She was pretty, smart, and she was a medic. Many guys had asked her for a date plenty of times. She had even stayed at Sasuke's mansion a few times to make the mob go away. The question was: did she like him?

Ayame gave them their ramen and they started eating.

They talked about a lot of things. When the lunch was finally over, he asked, "Sakura…um…I…" He trailed off. Sakura thought this was funny and said between giggles, "So-laughing-Sasuke, I guess-laughing- you are actually at a loss for words. –stopped laughing- That's a first for you."

Sasuke twitched. Sakura said, "Okay let me guess. You want…to take me out on another date?" She was giggling all over again. He twitched again. Talk about a hurt to a guy's pride. (Hahahahaha!!!!!) He nodded and kept twitching. Sakura finally stopped laughing and said, "Name the day."

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The day was over at last and he sat on the steps waiting for Sakura. Sadly, he was still surrounded by girls. They were all still gushing over him no matter what he said. He saw Sakura coming from afar and stood up. The girls around him followed. He tried to ignore them and walked towards Sakura. When they saw her they backed off for some reason.

Well Itachi knew what this meant: stick to Sakura at all possible times. As they were walking to Sakura's apartment she asked how his day went. He had nothing better to do then to explain, "I was mobbed by girls and all the guys hated me. I told them they were annoying but that didn't stop them. The girls wouldn't leave me alone until you got there. Why'd they go away when you came, Sakura-san? Can you stay with me during the day?"

Sakura laughed and thought, _'Reminds me of Sasuke. I wonder why they left when I came though.' _

Sakura climbed into bed that night feeling very sleepy and was almost sleeping when she heard a soft noise outside the door. She grabbed a kunai from under her pillow and opened the door. A very frightened Itachi stood in front of her so she lowered her weapon.

"Itachi, what's wrong?" Sakura's concern was quite obvious. "I had the same nightmare. Can I sleep here again?" He seemed just as scared as he was the last time if not more. She nodded and let him in her room.

_'I have a feeling it'__s going to be a long time before he goes back to normal.'_

**A/N: Okay that's the end of this chapter. IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS FOR THIS STORY SAY IT IN REVIEWS! I accept flames. Please review. I hope you like this chapter. It was kinda hard to write.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay. Hi pplz! I try hard to update as much as possible for those who read. I just want you to PLEASE REVIEW! Please? I'm always up for ideas. ****Oh and lets just say Naruto was on a mission until he comes into the story.**

**That reminds me. I DO NOT OWN NARUTO- cries-**

Itachi woke up and blushed when he realized how Sakura was snuggling him in her sleep. He moved out of her grip and left the bed. He walked into the kitchen and got some cereal. Finally he took the time to think about why he had to be 'Koji' and why his parents weren't here.

Sakura had said his parents were on a vacation but, in his nightmares he was older and he killed them all. Wait…if everyone was gone…what's to stop him from visiting his own place? Nothing.

He left the apartment and started toward the Uchiha mansion.

00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00

Sakura woke up to blinding light from her window and checked the time. It was 8:30. She lay back down to go to sleep. Then it hit her and she sat right back up. (The light bulb in her head went "Ding!" Hahahahaha) Itachi wasn't there.

She went around the apartment. Sakura was getting frantic. This was bad. He wasn't anywhere. She sat down on the sofa and complained, "Why Itachi?"

"Itachi?" a familiar voice asked. It wasn't Itachi and that's all it took to make her jump and look at the one who spoke.

**(A/N: I had thought of stopping it there but, that is too short and too cliffy. So let me continue.)**

Her blonde friend was looking a bit angry as he asked, "What he do Sakura-chan?" It took a while before she said meekly, "He ran away." That was enough to confuse Naruto for days. She remembered that he didn't know what she was talking about so she had to explain to him, which took a little longer then explaining usually did due to Naruto's constant questions.

At the end of it all he said, "You better not let Sasuke find out about all this. Then he'll try to kill Itachi and you."

"Why'd he kill me?"

"He'd do it because you didn't tell him so he could kill Itachi as a chibi."

00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00

Itachi saw the mansion and started running faster. When he came to the door he unconsciously became very quiet. Somebody was already there. He slowly slid open the door and walked in. The inside of the mansion was obviously lived in. If his clan was away, who was living here? He crept into his old room but, that only confused him more. The rest of the house was clean but his room had so much dust on it, it was like it hadn't been touched in years. He left it and decided to check his parent's room. It was the same way. He left and decided to visit the small family cemetery.

Getting there, he saw there were new additions in it. He looked at every one. He fell to his knees, completely mortified, at the graves of his parents: Fugaku Uchiha and Mikoto Uchiha. He wasn't dreaming. Some of it made sense now. The dream was how he killed them. It actually happened. Sakura had said that he should have older to be Itachi. He was older in the dream. He had to be older, but why was he so small?

"Who are you?" Itachi looked up and saw the guy Sakura had called Sasuke. Was this his little brother? He thought it would be best to answer. "It's Koji." Sasuke looked slightly confused. "Why are you here Koji? Is Sakura with you?" Itachi stared at him. _'Sasuke has a serious obsession with Sakura.'_ Then he remembered that he had to answer.

"No, Sakura isn't here. I had just wanted to see the mansion. It looks cool...Are you an Uchiha?" Itachi thought maybe he could get some answers from Sasuke. Sasuke nodded and said, "Yes. I'm an Uchiha. I do live here. I thought that was obvious." The usual Sasuke-ness was very different to him so he just nodded. Then he changed the subject. "Who killed them?" He wanted to hear Sasuke's answer.

"It was my older brother Itachi. He killed the entire clan and told me I wasn't even worth killing…I will kill him. Killing him…is the reason…for my existence." He trailed off and looked down at the graves.

"He wanted you to kill him to prove you were better." Itachi had spoken the words before he could stop himself. Sasuke was about to say something to him but Naruto's voice cut him off.

"Sasuke-teme, is Sakura's cousin here? Sasuke-teme!?!" He was loud that's for sure and he was going through the house, knocking over anything he could. Sasuke twitched.

"We're coming baka!" Sasuke motioned for Itachi to follow as he made his way to the mansion where Naruto was still knocking everything over. Itachi asked Sasuke something and on his agreement they went inside.

In the house, Sasuke, Naruto, and the chibi Itachi were all gathered in a room very close to the exit. Itachi stared up at the loudmouth blonde and thought he remembered him from somewhere. Naruto explained how he went to say hi to Sakura but she was going crazy looking for 'Koji' everywhere. He offered to look and was going to check here first.

_'Sakura-san wanted to find me? __Does she even know my dream isn't really a dream?'_

Naruto took Itachi to his place and told him Sakura had to go do some research with the Hokage. **(A/N: No not Jiraiya's kind of research.) **He said he could hang with him for today. Itachi told him he had to got to the academy and if Naruto could take him there.

Naruto was happy that he might see his old sensei: Umino Iruka.

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Sakura was with a sober Tsunade, trying to figure out how to turn Itachi back into an adult or at least figure out how it happened.

"He doesn't remember anything before he turned chibi so we can't ask him anything…Tsunade-sama, is there such thing as a memory reading jutsu?" Sakura thought. They hadn't really gotten anywhere on the subject. The Hokage nodded and looked through a box of scrolls.

"The jutsu is dangerous though. It could kill him if it wasn't done correctly. An extreme amount of chakra would be needed to probe the part of the brain that holds memories. Then you'd have to keep a constant chakra flow until you find the right memories. Plus, there's always the possibility that becoming six has erased everything he doesn't already know now." Tsunade explained, looking through the scroll.

They needed a medic who had a vast amount of chakra. Tsunade could do it if she used the chakra sealed in her forehead. Sakura discussed this with Tsunade and it was decided. Tsunade would conduct the jutsu on Itachi tomorrow morning.

Sakura thanked Tsunade and left to go find Naruto.

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Itachi sighed. He couldn't wait until the day was over. Sasuke had agreed to train him. He could pick up on the things he had forgotten. He hadn't been paying much attention in class until there was a knock at the door. Just like that, Sasuke walked in. Finally the girls stopped staring at him and stared at Sasuke who was talking to Iruka-sensei.

Finally, he turned to him and motioned for him to follow. **(A/N: You know…that head nod thing guys do that tells people to come…)** He got up and followed him out the door. The girls moaned now that they had no one to fawn over. The guys cheered until Iruka-sensei told them to quiet down.

Once they were outside, Sasuke led him to the training grounds. Itachi asked, "I thought we were going to wait until after it was over?" Sasuke just shrugged and answered, "I got bored. I thought maybe you might want to train already. Or do you want to go back into a room where the girls won't stop staring at you?" At that Itachi's eyes widened and he shook his head vigorously.

Sasuke pulled out a small piece of paper and told him to put some chakra onto the paper. **(A/N: Sorry if I stole that idea…I just remember seeing it somewhere.)** It turned to ashes so Sasuke started teaching him the fire ball jutsu.

After teaching Itachi the seals he demonstrated how it was done. Itachi copied Sasuke and yelled, "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" The fire ball was only half as big as Sasuke's but still impressive for someone his age.

Sasuke taught him many fire jutsus and was amazed at how fast the kid could learn. He taught him Tai-jutsu, Nin jutsu, and even a bit of Gen jutsu. By the time they took a break Itachi already knew about half of his jutsu.

Sasuke thought, _'This is going to be fun.'_

"Hey, Koji, I want to teach you a certain jutsu. Have you heard of the Chidori?" Sasuke smirked.

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He wasn't there…again. Sakura's eye twitched. When she found him she was going to beat him to a pulp for making her worry about him so much. She went inside to find Iruka. He was in his classroom. When he saw her he looked scared. An angry Sakura meant someone was going to the hospital soon.

"Where is he?" Her voice was deadly.

"You mean Koji? He left with Sasuke this morning." Iruka put on a smile that he hoped didn't show his fear.

"Do you know where he went?" Sakura was yelling now and people on the other side of The Village Hidden in the Leaves could hear it.

"They went to the training grounds but I don't know which one."

Sakura immediately calmed down, smiled, and said, "Thank you, Iruka-sensei." She ran off to the training grounds leaving a scared sensei. She was going to find him, and then she was going to kill him, and then bring him back to life to kill him again.

**A/N: Okay, another chapter down. I'll try to update soon. **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed! I'll update as much as I can. ****Don't forget to review…please?**

Itachi looked carefully at Sasuke as he showed him the hand seals necessary for the Chidori. He copied them slowly and gathered as much chakra as he could. This jutsu was much more complicated then the others his brother had shown him. After Sasuke staring at him for about a minute, an amount of black chakra emitted from his hand.

"Sasuke-san, am I doing it right?" Itachi asked at the incredulous look on his brother's face.

"Koji, why is your chakra black?" He still had the same expression after Itachi shrugged. He told Sasuke that it was always like that.

A kunai with an exploding tag flew by Itachi's ear and landed on a tree. It exploded before they could react.

A very angry, twitching, Sakura came out of the smoke and yelled, "KOJI! YOU HAVE A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO! I SUGGEST YOU START NOW…" she then turned to Sasuke, "YOU! SASUKE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH HIM? DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR KOJI?!" She was still twitching madly and staring at the two terrified boys. Her anger had risen in the time it took her to get there.

Sasuke thought it would be best if he acted like Naruto again. Sure Naruto got beat up but, not as much as anyone else. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I was only training him." He started smiling Naruto's goofy smile and scratching the back of his head. Sakura didn't buy it. "Don't even try, Sasuke. Only one guy can do that and Naruto isn't here." She was still glaring and the phrase 'If looks could kill' came to mind.

"I've been looking for Koji-kun all day and what was he doing at your house anyway?" She calmed down a bit and waited for an answer.

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Itachi looked up at Sakura and was positive she was going to yell at him again. At the training grounds, she yelled at him as Koji. Now she was probably going to yell at him as Itachi. She looked at him again. He cowered, shut his eyes, and tried to bury himself in Sakura's sofa.

Sakura sighed and asked him, "So…how much do you know?" He peeked at her. Now he was confused, she wasn't yelling. "You aren't going to yell?" She shook her head and told him just to answer the question.

"I know you've lied to me. My family is dead. I killed them…and Sasuke really likes you." Itachi said staring at the floor. He continued, "I was wondering…if you could tell me about who I was before." He looked up at Sakura. She had a slightly shocked look on her face. It took a while before she sighed and began.

"When you were 7 you graduated from the academy. A year later you had the initial mastery of the Sharingan and you were promoted to Chunin when you were 10. Soon after you turned 13, you became a squadron leader of ANBU. You murdered your friend, Shisui Uchiha, to obtain Mangekyo Sharingan…" Sakura told Itachi of everything about him that she knew. As she finished, Itachi's eyes were wide that made him look cuter then just being a chibi.

**(A/N: Imagine it Chibi Itachi fans. Kawaii! But that's just me…)**

Sakura giggled at the look on his face and also told him about the mind search jutsu leaving out the risk it would be to perform it. Then she told him it was time for bed and led him to her room on his insistence.

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Kisame looked at the Akatsuki leader. Leader had called him here for something very important. The leader turned to Kisame and said, "You did leave Itachi near Konoha didn't you?" at Kisame's nod he continued, "Good. He has most likely been found by now. Soon the medics in that village will return Itachi to his former self. We need to be ready for that day so that we can bring him back into the Akatsuki. If for some reason he does not co-operate we shall have to kill him. Is that clear?" Kisame nodded again.

He left the room and went to find Deidara who, after Sasori died, had been in a group with him and Itachi.

**(A/N: I know that's not true but let's pretend it is.)**

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Sakura, Tsunade, and Itachi gathered in the room. Tsunade told Itachi to sit down and close his eyes. She performed the necessary seals to release the chakra stored in her forehead and inserted the said chakra into Itachi's head. After about ten minutes of searching, she found something. It was from when he murdered Shisui.

**Flashback**

_Shisui looked at Itachi. They were at a more or less deserted lake. Itachi started toward his friend. He wanted to activate Mangekyo Sharingan and killing his best friend was the only way to do it. He grabbed Shisui and put him under water. He struggled and went limp about five minutes later. Itachi made it all look like he had committed suicide and casually walked away. That was way too easy. _

**(A/N: I know that was weird and short but I don't**** know how he really killed him.)**

**End Flashback**

After that all the memories came flooding out and poured itself into the Godaime's mind. Tsunade found many of when Itachi and Sasuke were younger. It seemed like Itachi supported Sasuke enough so…what had gone wrong? Itachi had made his father spend more time training Sasuke instead of watching him. A different one came up…It was from the night before Itachi had gotten there.

**Flashback**

_He had been training and was running low on chakra. His eyesight was not as good as it used to be but he had managed. __He wanted to try a certain jutsu he had seen in one of the scrolls the leader had in a box that was very well hidden under a floor board in his office. It was an unnamed jutsu that was a stolen from Orochimaru. It was an experiment that had never been completely finished but it had to be something good or the snake wouldn't have made it. He formed the seals and put the last of his chakra into it. Nothing happened. It was a complete waste in time and effort. He walked slowly through the Akatsuki hideout and made his way to his room. He needed rest to restore his chakra. He fell into a very deep sleep, which is good because seeing somebody change into a chibi is slightly disturbing. _

**End Flashback**

The jutsu! That was the reason he was a chibi. Orochimaru had made a jutsu that made Itachi a chibi. Tsunade told this information to Sakura and told Itachi he could open his eyes now. They had found the information they needed. Now the only question is: How do we get him back to normal? Itachi had remembered everything Tsunade had looked through and uncovered.

Tsunade dismissed them both and started thinking on how to make a reverse jutsu…This was going to be a long day…

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Sakura and Koji were heading towards Ichiraku's and had just sat down when a certain blonde yelled at her. "HI, Forehead!" She turned and saw her best friend Ino Yamanaka. "Hi, Ino-pig, how are you?" Ino sat down next to Sakura, while Itachi began eating his ramen, and started complaining about their latest mission was a D-rank and all they did was pull weeds all day. The higher rank missions were all taken by ANBU and Jonins so they were all left with D-rank.

Ino was babbling so much by the time she noticed Itachi he was on his 15th bowl. She took one good look at him and then turned to Sakura who had barely started her first bowl. Ino's eyes widened. "Sakura… is he yours and Sasuke's? He looks so much like him." Ino was still staring at an oblivious Itachi as he was eating more then Naruto. Sakura on the other hand, had heard and was choking on her miso ramen.

"No! Where do you get these ideas Ino-pig?" Sakura managed to say, still choking. Ino then realized she was off and said, "Well he looks a lot like Sasuke and he's hanging around with you, so I thought maybe… and then there's the way Sasuke looks at you now a days."

"What?" Sakura said asking her to repeat what she had said.

"Sasuke looks at you like he likes you. Come on, Forehead; don't tell me you're blind now. I thought it was obvious." Ino lectured.

It had been obvious. So, why hadn't Sakura noticed? Or was it that she noticed but didn't care that way anymore? Sakura now knew one more thing about the remaining Uchiha clan. They had a way to make you care and they left you completely confused. Sakura had heard Itachi say Sasuke liked her but she had put that aside to think about later. Now the subject was being forced into the conversation. Deciding to change the subject, she turned to the blonde and told the Koji-kun story which only left Ino confused. She then left a while later after running out of things to say (I never thought that would happen)

Sakura paid (a lot because Itachi apparently had a bigger stomach then Naruto) and they headed towards her apartment. She collapsed on the sofa and thought about what had happened in the last 3 days. (Yup…I counted)

**A/N: Okay that's it. Please review. I'll try to update soon. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I've made mistakes…To those of you who caught it; Sasuke had accidentally called Itachi by his real name instead of Koji. I fixed it now. Also when Itachi is little the current Hokage is the Fourth**** but I decided just to leave it like that cuz I'm too lazy to change it****. I hope I can get the rest of the story at least okay. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO REVIEW!**

**That reminds me. I don't own Naruto**** but, I wish I owned Gaara! **

Deidara and Kisame made their way to Konoha. They would need a disguise that would convince everyone so that they could keep an eye on chibi Itachi without being suspicious. Watching the entrance to the hidden village, two guys started to come out.

"Come on Lee, the Exuberance of Youth ® is strong in you today! Let's go!" Gai-sensei yelled to his favorite student. (In the manga it actually said Exuberance of Youth ®)

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

Insert beach sunset scene with Gai and Lee hugging.

Deidara and Kisame twitched at shuddered at that. Deidara turned to his partner and asked, "Where did the beach and the sunset come from?" Kisame was still twitching as he answered, "I don't think I want to know, but if we turn into these two we'd have to be yelling about youth a lot and start hugging."

Lee and Gai left the village and the two Akatsuki members did the Henge no jutsu. When they had captured Gaara not to long ago and Gai and Lee had to fight themselves, the clones gathered information about them, from their fighting style to their personality. (A/N: Wow that was a long sentence.)

**(A/N: I am currently going through writer's block so bare with me on this one. I just have to get them in the village and get the story going.)**

The casually walked into the village and were on the lookout for the chibi. Then Kisame (Gai) literally ran into a certain silver haired ninja holding and orange book.

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"Hello, Gai." Kakashi said, not even looking up from his book. Being Kisame and not knowing what else to do he said, "The Exuberance of Youth ® is strong in you today!"

Deidara played along and yelled, "Gai-sensei!" He tried his best to look in awe at Kisame. Although Kisame was NOT going to hug him like the real ones did to each other.

Kakashi looked a little annoyed and freaked out. Seeing Gai and Lee like that was like seeing the Hokage after she got really drunk. Either way it never failed to make him walk away, mentally scarred for life. So that's what he did. He walked away at a Gai and Lee that were whispering to each other.

Besides he was going to see Sakura today. Gai noticed him leaving and called after him, "Where are you going?" Kakashi sighed and told them, "I'm going to train with Sakura." He walked away and once he was out of sight he broke out running. Gai was acting weirder then usual and that was saying a lot.

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Sakura put on her black training gloves and tightened her hitae-ate **(A/N: Is that what it's called?)**. She told Itachi to train with Naruto, who was meeting up with Kakashi before they got here. As the door opened she got 'Koji' and left with Kakashi who looked a little peeved and the oblivious loudmouth Naruto.

As they got to the training grounds, Naruto got Itachi and showed some things Sasuke didn't. Kakashi faced Sakura and let her make the first move. She sighed. It was just like old times.

She ran towards him, gathering chakra in her fist. He ducked and threw a kick at her. Sakura caught his foot and twisted his leg. He freed his leg from her grip and jumped into the trees. She followed him as Kakashi threw kunai at her. She dodged all but one that scratched her arm. It was just a small scratch so she'd be fine. Sakura responded by performing many seals and yelling, "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" It was something she learned from Sasuke. Kakashi got hit by the fire and disappeared in smoke. It had been a shadow clone. She stopped to look for her old sensei. She looked around. He wasn't above or around her. She dropped to the ground and punched it. It crumbled at her touch and revealed Kakashi who jumped and threw more kunai. He seemed very distracted and deep in thought. She paused and stared at him.

"Is something wrong Kakashi-sensei?" She kept her guard up anyway. Who knows what her sensei was thinking. He shook his head. "Gai was acting very strange today." He explained. Sakura was now a bit confused but brushed it off. When doesn't Gai act weird? She decided to check on Naruto and Itachi.

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Itachi stared at the water balloon in his hand. His chakra was forcing the water inside to go in circles. Naruto was teaching him the Rasengan. "Good Koji. Now turn the chakra in different directions to make the balloon pop. Sometimes it helps to do that with your free hand." Naruto demonstrated with his own chakra. Itachi hit the balloon in his hand and made the water go in many directions. The balloon popped and splashed water everywhere.

"Koji, you are a really fast learner. It took me forever before I could do that!" Naruto said giving him a rubber ball this time. He was going to learn the Rasengan just like Naruto did. "The rubber ball is different then the balloon. It's harder to pop and doesn't have water in it. It requires more chakra and concentration." Naruto got another ball and popped it to show Itachi how it was done.

Itachi had to try several times before the ball finally burst. Naruto commented again on how fast he was before taking Itachi's hand. He drew a dot on it and told him to concentrate the chakra on the dot. The black chakra appeared on the palm of his hand and slowly started swirling. Itachi hit the chakra like he had with the balloon and the ball. Then when it was swirling he ran towards the nearest tree. He hit the tree and saw it explode. Itachi smirked and looked at his temporary sensei.

Naruto had his mouth open wide and was gaping at the kid who had just mastered the Rasengan in one day. The fact that Itachi had a completely different chakra went unregistered in Naruto's mind. "How was that Naruto-san?" Itachi had an innocent look on his face just as Sakura walked over.

Naruto looked at Sakura and he yelled, "Ne, Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! He mastered the Rasengan, Sakura-chan!" Sakura looked from Itachi to Naruto. Itachi was smirking again and Naruto still had his mouth open.

Out of nowhere and completely off topic here, Gai and Lee jumped from the trees.

"The Exuberance of Youth ®; you all are full of it!" Gai yelled and did the nice guy pose. Lee smiled and copied Gai. From out of nowhere Kakashi saw them and left quickly, still traumatized from his earlier experience. Sakura took a good look at Lee. Her eyes narrowed. Lee pretended to be oblivious to it and ran over to Sakura. "Sakura-san, you look beautiful today."

Sakura smiled and then grabbed part of his jumpsuit and Lee started blushing. She punched Lee in the face but didn't let go of him. She continued to start pounding him. Naruto was still shocked and his eyes were really wide. "Sakura-chan, why are you hitting Bushy Brow?"_'Naruto is an idiot.' _Sakura ignored him for a while as she kept hitting Lee. He started blocking and trying to reason with her.

"Sakura-san, are you okay? Why are you hitting me, Sakura-san?" She frowned and finally stopped. Gai was laughing at Lee for getting beat up. "Who are you?" Sakura demanded to know. This was not Lee. Lee went on a mission today and didn't blush around her unless he was drunk but that rarely happened.

'Lee' chuckled. "So you figured it out, un" Realization came to Sakura. "What?!?" Naruto was still an idiot.

**A/N: Okay. Sorry it took me so long. I had serious writer's block. Please review. **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I know the updates have been slow but at least I'm updating –no offence intended-. So please read and review. Thanks to those that have reviewed by the way.**

**I don't own Naruto**

Deidara smirked, and because he looked like Lee it didn't really suit him to smirk like an evil maniac. He looked at the furious kunoichi holding on to his green spandex jumpsuit. He told her straight out. "We're here for kid, so hand him over and nobody gets killed…un."

Naruto FINALLY realized who Sakura had been punching this whole time. "Deidara, what are you doing here?!?!" Kisame, Deidara, Sakura, and even Itachi, sweat dropped and fell anime style. Sakura never lost her grip on Deidara as she turned to face Naruto. "BAKA, he just told us!" Naruto laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. While they were talking senselessly, Itachi gathered chakra in his hand and started hitting it. The black chakra swirled and now it was Itachi who was smirking like a maniac.

"I think you should guys should see what Naruto-san has been teaching me. I'm sure you'll find it fascinating." He ran towards 'Lee', Kisame forgotten, and while Deidara was stuck in Sakura's menacing grasp, and blasted Deidara's back. Naruto started to cheer but stopped when he didn't react but rather a newly destroyed log was in his place. Deidara came to stand beside 'Gai' and had let go of the Henge no Jutsu. Itachi got a good look at the both of them and looked quite shocked.

"IT'S THE FISH-MAN AND THE GUY THAT KEEPS SAYING 'UN'!!!" This was heard well throughout Konoha and even kind of echoed a bit for a stupid effect. Kisame and Deidara looked overly annoyed at that. Kisame never liked being called a fish. He was a shark and even then didn't like that. Deidara didn't like being called 'the guy that keeps saying un'. A battle was going to start here and neither of the Akatsuki members minded if they had to hurt a few people to get the brat in front of them.

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Tsunade stared at the scroll in front of her. Orochimaru had wanted to live forever and stay young. The jutsu pretty much did that, but, he had also wanted power and to gather more jutsu. Being a kid would interfere with his plans so he would need to make sure he didn't lose his memory when performing this kind of jutsu. This hadn't worked on Itachi. Tsunade sighed. Figuring out what happened was beyond tiring. Orochimaru wasn't the kind of person who would give up on a jutsu so why had he left it there? Then the Akatsuki had thrown Itachi out because he was a kid. Could it be that Orochimaru had left it there on purpose? To do that he would have to have known someone would look at it.

A knock at the door shook her out of her thoughts. It was Kakashi. "Hokage-sama, two people have been impersonating Gai and Lee and seem to have followed Sakura into the training grounds." (Let's just say Kakashi was actually hiding in the trees and left when Sakura started punching Deidara into the ground.) Tsunade blinked. "They did that again?" (There was an episode where two guys came to the village as Gai and Lee) Was there some reason people always chose them two? Kakashi nodded.

"IT'S THE FISH-MAN AND THE GUY THAT KEEPS SAYING 'UN'!!!" The scream was obviously Itachi's. Tsunade and Kakashi sweat dropped. "He's been hanging out with Naruto hasn't he? Well at least we know who it is. Gather all the Jonin available besides Sasuke and make sure they get those two out of here." Kakashi nodded again and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Tsunade sighed and decided just to keep working on this. The faster she figured out the jutsu, the faster Itachi gets to leave the village.

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Seeing Deidara, who had killed Gaara once, made Naruto feel pretty angry. **(A/N: I, so far, have only seen up to Shippuden e****pisode 26****, so I don't know how Naruto fought them.)** He could already feel the Kyuubi's chakra make itself known. As the red chakra became visible, the lines on Naruto's face got more defined, his eyes turned red, and his teeth grew into fangs. Sakura smirked. "You got Naruto pretty mad just by showing up. I'd leave if I were you."

Itachi saw Naruto change. To say it scared him was an understatement, but Naruto was on his side so it didn't matter. Sakura ran over to Itachi to protect him from anything the Akatsuki members might pull. Naruto did the Rasengan and ran towards Deidara and Kisame. They used the replacement jutsu and Deidara stuck his hand in his pocket and started creating something with his clay.

Before anyone could do anything else, Jonin level shinobi started falling from the trees and surrounded the two Akatsuki members. The Jonin raised their kunai and shuriken and threw them at the two. Some ran towards to attack them with Tai jutsu or close-range ninjutsu. Just as Naruto and Sakura were about to join the fight, a loud explosion made them stop. A few of the Jonin were thrown back by the blast. Deidara and Kisame were lifted into the air by a giant bird. As they were flying away, Deidara couldn't help but say, "ART IS A BANG!!! …UN!" They flew off and you could still hear Kisame's weird, maniacal laughter. Sakura looked toward Itachi. He was frozen, staring at where the Akatsuki members left. Sakura walked over to him as the Jonin shinobi left as well and ANBU black ops were sent to follow the intruders.

"Koji-kun…are you okay?" Sakura didn't want Itachi to be emotionally scarred. "I thought they didn't want me there." Itachi's words shocked the pink haired kunoichi a bit. Then, three seconds later, Tsunade appeared in a flurry of leaves, drunk as ever, looking very proud of herself at the moment. "I…I d-did it!" She stuttered and wobbled over to them. How drunk Tsunade was now, made her other drunkenness look sober.

"I know how to get Itachi back to normal!"

**A/N: Hahahahaha. Okay pplz. I want you to decide what Itachi should do next and when or if he goes back to normal. Tell me what you want in reviews. If you want, check out my other story Katon: Zukokku. REVIEW PLEASE!**** Oh and sorry this update took so long.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Wow I never thought I'd get so many reviews. I just wanted to say that because school started the updates will be slower then they already are. ****SORRY****. My school a****lready gives plenty of homework.****Thank you for your reviews. Please let me know how you feel about my stories (I have one other that I just started). I'm gonna end the note and get on with the chapter.**

**I Don't Own Naruto…but I do own a ****Naruto ****shirt and a ****Naruto ****backpack. **

Itachi and Sakura stared at the drunken woman in front of them. Had she just said…?

"If I-Itachi just d-d-does the jutsu over again, he should go back t-to normal." Tsunade explained, slurring a few of her words. Sakura and Itachi kept staring for a while before Itachi decided to yell at the sannin.

"I won't do it! You can't make me!" He screamed and started to run. Luckily he wasn't as fast as Sakura, because she was able to catch up to him easily and catch him. Itachi started struggling and trying to wiggle out of her arms. "Calm down! How about we talk this over with some ice cream?" Immediately Itachi settled down at the mention of the frozen stuff. By the look on his face half of the ice cream –maybe more- would be on it (his face I mean).

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Itachi looked up from his ice cream and smiled at Sakura through all the strawberry flavored goodness on his face. Sakura had looked at him funny when she saw him eat it. He didn't know why though. When the three of them got into the shop, it took about a good fifteen minutes to get Tsunade to stop yelling about the 'lack' of sake she was getting. After a long silence, Sakura gazed at the chibi in front of her.

"Itachi, why don't you want to do the jutsu again?" (Sakura saw no use to call him by his fake name now) Itachi's face grew serious and he stayed quiet for a while. It was long enough for Sakura's patience to run out. "ARE YOU GOING TO TELL ME OR NOT?!?!!!" Itachi just stared away in a bored manner. "Hn…" Sakura's eye twitched, had it been Naruto she would have hit him to no end, but sadly this was Itachi. She wouldn't hit the chibi she tried so hard to protect (go back and check the "Sakura beating up Deidara" part if you forgot. If not just keep reading).

Finally after he decided to do something he said, "It should be obvious by now. I had been a killer and murdered innocent people. I don't want to do that. What if when I change back I feel the same as I did before and just go back to the fish guy and the UN guy? I don't want to do that. I want to stay here…with you…with my brother…in Konoha." He looked sad now. Sakura wanted to find a way to comfort him.

"Itachi, even if you did turn back, I don't think you would change how you feel about the Akatsuki now. How about you re-join Konoha when you go back to normal?" This brightened Itachi up a bit. He nodded and suggested they get it over with. Sakura agreed and looked over at the strangely silent Hokage, only to see her fast asleep. They left her there and went to a different training ground. Itachi summoned his chakra and performed the necessary hand seals.

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Deidara and Kisame hid in the trees watching Sakura and Itachi. It was Kisame's genius that had gotten them out of the mess of Jonin and ANBU that had been tracking them. They used a Kage Bunshin to lose them and followed the pink-haired kunoichi and the little Uchiha. Itachi started the hand seals. At the last one he dispersed his chakra and a flare of black smoke enveloped him. The two Akatsuki members waited to see if it was a success.

Out of the smoke came a very serious looking Itachi who was at least 20. He looked at Sakura, his expression unreadable. "I-Itachi?" Sakura wasn't so sure he had remembered the last few days as a chibi. He said nothing…to her at least.

"Deidara…Kisame. Leave. NOW." He ordered.

**(A/N: He finally did it. He's not a chibi………………………I miss the chibi…)**

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Sakura stared at the older Itachi. She was starting to wish she hadn't pushed him into doing this. A good piece of her chakra was still drained from attacking Deidara so many times. Sakura backed up a bit. At this Itachi frowned.

"Sakura…..I want to take you up on your offer. I want to become a Konoha ninja…"

Sakura promptly fainted from shock.

**(A/N: Should I leave it like that...Correct answer: NO!)**

Itachi sighed and picked up the kunoichi and started to walk over to the hospital.

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Sakura woke up and groaned. Where was she? Looking around she saw she was in a hospital bed. The memory of what made her get here hit Sakura…Itachi. She quickly got out of bed and was about to reach to open the door, when it opened for her. Standing in front of her was a finally sober Tsunade and of course the older, no longer chibi, Itachi.

Tsunade smiled and told Sakura, "You fainted. Itachi brought you here. He's also requested to become a ninja in this village." Itachi looked a little annoyed at how people always talked about him like he wasn't there in the same room.

They all sat down to discuss Itachi like he wasn't there…again. "Sakura, I will allow him to stay but, I think he should remain in your house. That is my only condition. What do you say Sakura?" Sakura was kind of stressed out. She had no problem with it but, how was the rest of Konoha going to act with an S-rank ninja now back into the village again. She brought up these points and asked about it. Tsunade totally agreed with her but just said that if the village had a problem with it they would just have to bring it to her. Sakura looked at Itachi, who was still annoyed. "What do you think about this Itachi?" His opinion was important. If he didn't want to be there it would be very awkward.

He looked at her in a bored manner and replied, "Hn." Sakura's eye twitched. Sasuke and Itachi were much more alike then the two thought. Sasuke was always claiming to be different then his older brother but, now that Itachi was normal she saw first hand how very wrong he was. She pointed this out too and Itachi gave her a very aggravated look. That was very Sasuke-ish. "So are you going to tell me your answer or are you going to sit there and 'Hn' all day?" She was very annoyed at Itachi's change of attitude since he went to get ice cream. Tsunade was just staring at Sakura and Itachi, also annoyed like Sakura, and was still waiting for him to hurry up and answer.

"I'm fine with staying at your place but I think it should only be temporary. It would be quite odd to live in the same house for a long period of time." He finally spoke in his I-don't-need-anyone tone of voice. Sakura sighed and turned to Tsunade for her opinion on the matter. Tsunade was even more aggravated because it seemed he wasn't listening earlier. "You are to stay in Sakura's house. That was my condition for you staying here. You will stay there until I see fit that you can move. Then there's always the matter of Sasuke…" The Godaime trailed off thinking to herself.

Itachi's face showed signs of hate at the mention of his 'little otouto'. Sakura noticed this and said, "If Sasuke even tries to hurt you the turn out won't be pretty. His goal is to restore the clan. Killing you or at least trying would damage that goal at least a bit if it doesn't completely destroy it. Maybe we can monitor Sasuke for a while until he learns to live with it." Itachi nodded. Tsunade kind of agreed with that and dismissed them. Sakura left and went home with Itachi in tow. Sakura winced at how reserved he was compared to how he was as a kid. She entered her house and Itachi was a few feet behind her.

A voice called out to her from the darkness in her living room. "Hello, Sakura." She froze. This person was not the person she wanted to see right now. Itachi entered the room and immediately smirked before saying, "Hello otouto."

**A/N: Okay that's another chapter. Hope you like it. Please review. MUAHAHAHA!!!! LATER.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Wow. I was totally surprised at how many reviewed. THANK YOU. I'm also surprised that some people actually read the author's notes because most don't. I want you all to tell me what you want to happen for this story please. It helps a lot when I know how to please the readers. **

Sasuke stared at Itachi, getting angrier by the second. Chakra formed in the palm of Sasuke's hand. Sakura went into immediate action of calming Sasuke and Itachi down. "Ne…Sasuke…what are you doing here?" This only seemed to make it worse. "What am I doing here? What is he doing here?!!!" The chakra was starting to make a loud noise. It was the noise of thousands of birds chirping. (You know what I'm talking about) The killer intent was strong and heavy like a really big, big, huge, heavy, strong thing.

Sasuke was getting angrier by the second. Sakura stared at Itachi. Had he gone mad? Suddenly, Itachi gave a very child-like grin and in a poof of smoke looked just like 'Koji'. "Hahahahaha! You totally fell for it!" The chibi was now rolling on the floor in laughter. Sakura started laughing as well. Sasuke's face was priceless and the forming chidori died down. Confusion and anger rolled into a meatball splattered on Sasuke's face was hilarious and not to mention tasty. (I like meatballs and spaghetti…wow that's a really weird sentence in the middle of a story)

"KOJI, WHY'D YOU DO THAT?!?!" Sasuke's rage was letting itself known…again. Between laughter, Itachi managed to mutter, "I-I-laughs- I'm sorry –laughs-It was too funny." Finally the very convincing laughter had ceased and they turned kind of serious. Sakura had stopped laughing when Sasuke started yelling and was now about to explain. "I had told him more about you and I guess he couldn't resist a good joke." Sasuke narrowed his (black-no Sharingan-) eyes but just muttered, "He needs to stop hanging out with Naruto."

**(A/N: I had written it differently but that just seemed so weird so I'm going to delay Sasuke finding out for a while. Sorry to those of you that wanted him to know already.)**

Awkward silence… "So…Sasuke…what were you doing in my house? I thought we came to an agreement?" There was more awkward silence. "I had wanted to know if you and Naruto wanted to get some ramen with me…where is Naruto, by the way?" The lie was kind of obvious but Sakura decided to let it slide. She let out a small chuckle. "And you say Koji hangs out with Naruto too much. You're starting to eat more ramen then he does if that's even possible. He was on his way to Ichiraku's with Hinata anyway, though. I won't be able to go. I have to talk to Koji about his little Naruto habit." At the last sentence she seemed to glare right at Itachi fiercely. He was going to pay for making her worry like that.

Itachi ignored it but he grinned sheepishly and started walking towards his room. Sasuke completely bored out of his mind, said goodbye to Sakura and left to find Naruto. As soon as he left, Sakura's fake smile faded and she stomped over to Itachi's room. He was his normal age again and was doing the Famous Uchiha Smirk ® which annoyed Sakura to no end. She stopped at his doorway and waited almost calmly for him to explain himself. "At least I pretended not to be me." That was his only answer and right now as I'm typing this I'm thinking, "Wow, too much dialog and I have no idea where this story is going."

Sakura sighed. This was rather confusing. She continued to stare at Itachi who was doing the same. The silence was not awkward this time but, rather comforting. Sakura started to notice some things she hadn't when she walked in. His eyes were their natural deep onyx instead of the red she'd seen so many times. The hair that was usually in a ponytail had been set free. The lines on his face were less dominant and made him look younger instead of older like it would on any one else.

'What am I thinking?'

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Itachi stared intently at Sakura. His eyes were locked on her face. She was staring back and a slight curious look painted her face. Itachi could see why Sasuke was trying to claim her. Her bright emerald eyes always sparkled even when angry and her bubble gum pink hair complimented her creamy colored skin. Not only was she beautiful but she was a powerful kunoichi. The realization of his own thoughts hit him hard and if it hadn't been for his amazing skills in being so reserved, Sakura would've seen the light blush that was fighting its way to the surface.

He quickly looked away in the usual bored manner and waited for her to leave. She must have caught the hint because a small blush adorned her face and she muttered a sorry before taking off to her own room. He smirked as he thought of why she was staring at him in the first place. 'Interesting.'

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Sakura woke up groggily that next morning. She had not slept so well that night. She had been up thinking about what had happened earlier. She had momentarily gone crazy was what she had told herself the entire time. She went into the bathroom and did her usual morning routine before walking into the kitchen and started making some pancakes.

Half asleep she was barely mixing the batter when Itachi came in. "Sleepy Sakura?" The sudden voice had gotten her wide awake and she shook her head. After finishing the pancakes she handed some over to Itachi and got out the syrup. They ate in more or less, silence and Sakura was washing the plates before speaking. "We're going to have to tell people sooner or later about you." That one sentence was enough to make the air tense and quiet. The only sound was Sakura washing the dishes –duh-. Itachi evaluated each option before saying, "Sooner," and just like that it was decided.

A rushed knock on the door broke the silence completely. Well at least they knew who it was. Sakura sighed and walked to let the loudmouth blonde in. She checked first to make sure no one else was with him but it was only Hinata. She opened the door and Naruto rushed in with Hinata following behind.

"Ne…Sakura-chan…Sakura-chan!!! Baa-chan wants you and Itachi in her office. She says it's important." Sakura nodded, got Itachi, and started for the Hokage's office.

**A/N: There you go. Here was another chapter for you readers. Please review.**** I put the staring thing in and I want to know. WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO NOW? I need ideas but if I don't update tomorrow then that means you'll have to wait until next weekend. Weekends are the only time I can usually update. Sorry.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Okay first of all to Sharkteeth: No it isn't you. Sadly, my chapters are getting shorter. I have no idea how some people b****alance out school and fanfics. I'm actually amazed people still read this. **

**I'm sorry my chapters are short. I just have no ideas on how to end this story. I want to get it over with and I'm trying to update at least once a week but it's kind of hard (I'm a non multitasking person). That and I feel sleepy . all the time so that makes my chapters bad and now I'm going on and on. Sorry my chapters are: boring, short, and that I'm only typing this to make the chapter longer.**

**I do not own Naruto…but I can kind of draw it…**

Itachi and Sakura stood in front of the Godaime. "Are you sure that's a good idea? There could be a riot." Sakura pointed out at the Hokage's ludicrous order. She wanted to announce Itachi's presence to the village and say that he would be on their team this time. The four shinobi (Itachi, Sakura, Naruto, and Hinata) all thought it was a very stupid idea.

Tsunade was firm on her idea and argued with the idea. Finally they all gave up and Tsunade called Shizune to make an announcement for a village gathering. Shizune and the little pig, whose name doesn't come to mind, ran off do just as the Godaime had said. Then she told Sakura to find Sasuke and find some way to tie him up or restrain him somehow while the gathering was going on.

Sakura winced at the order but reluctantly nodded and left in a puff of smoke. The Godaime dismissed Naruto and Hinata, who were going to go out for ramen. Once they left, Itachi was the only one with Tsunade. Tsunade looked shifty eyed and reached under her desk and took out a giant bottle of sake. In seeing this Itachi sweat dropped. This woman was addicted to that stuff. He wondered idly where Sakura was and how she planned to tie up his brother. Itachi excused himself from the Godaime's office and decided to check for himself.

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Sakura had her eye on her target. He was in the training grounds, of course. She made sure to repress her chakra as to be unnoticed. Sasuke didn't seem to notice her anyway. He was doing those one-fingered pushups with a **huge** boulder on his back. Sakura sweat dropped. What was it with some guys and working out? Sasuke was definitely not the kind of person to back down from a challenge either, so that made her job only easier. She smirked, something she doesn't do that often. The plan was good. This would definitely work. It had to. Sakura had one chance on this. The target was now kicking and breaking those tree stumps in the grounds. She studied him a little more. He seemed a bit disappointed about something. The stumps were taking his disappointment's full wrath. His brows creased together and he was tense. This was something not in her favor. It was best to make her appearance known. She jumped down from the tree she was standing on, making the Uchiha stop. He looked more surprised then anything else as she gave him her best smile and sauntered over to him.

"Hello Sasuke-kun," she almost threw up at her fraud sweetness. As a kunoichi, she was skilled in the art of deception. On mission where she would have to be disguised, she had to convince everyone of the fake identity, often her own teammates as well. It was as if she was an actress and a talented one at that. It only made sense. Sasuke gave her a wide smirk. "What's up?" she asked, disgusted inwardly. Sasuke, deciding to play it cool, shrugged and said, "The usual." She hoped there would be more conversation than two words a sentence. "So Sasuke-kun, I wondered if you were up to a challenge."

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Itachi followed Sakura's chakra signature and jumped through the trees. He suppressed his chakra and watched, disgusted as Sakura acted. "Hello, Sasuke-kun," she squealed. "What's up?" He wondered if Sakura was acting or not. He seriously hoped she was because her attitude was sickening. Itachi was lost in disgust he almost didn't hear Sakura challenge Sasuke. He stopped. "Let's fight. Te loser has to be tied up during the village meeting later today and become the winner's slave for a week." Sakura smile was sweet and innocent. Sasuke almost glared at her but couldn't stop his mouth. "You're on!" Itachi barely kept himself from laughing. Sakura had been acting all along and his little brother totally fell for it. Itachi had been worried for nothing. It took a lot just to admit it to himself.

Itachi sighed as he realized that he probably couldn't stay unattached to Sakura for long. This was going to be very awkward. He decided to stop thinking and watch the fight.

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Sakura got into a fighting stance and waited for Sasuke to do the same. He didn't bother to turn on his Sharingan. This was going to be an instant win. He smirked and looked at her. She was smiling sweetly, like she used to before he left; her bubble gum hair was tied up in her usual ponytail, and she wasn't even wearing her gloves. When she did it meant she was serious so Sasuke knew it was a good thing. He could totally win. Sasuke ran towards her and was in the middle of a kick when she did a substitution and appeared behind him, grabbing his arms and restraining them behind his back. He really didn't expect that one. Sakura brought her face to the right side of his neck, cuddling closer to him. Sasuke blushed. (OMG! HE BLUSHED! THE WORLD IS GOING TO END!) She was doing this on purpose of course, so as to distract him. "At this rate, you're going to lose, Sasuke-kun." Then she created a clone and, while still restraining the reddened Sasuke, the clone attacked. Sakura's clone formed hand seals and called, "Sakura Style: Cherry Blossom Bomb Jutsu!" (I just made that up. If anyone else had that, and wants me to change it, know that I had no idea whatsoever…and yes I know that it's kind of lame and not in Japanese. Just so you know I don't speak Japanese. NOW ON WITH THE STORY!) A flurry of kunai hit Sasuke and blew up.

Sakura was disappointed. He had gotten away. She put her hands on her hips and pouted. She had done this one day and just so happened to have been and around a boy or two and they all ran towards her so that Kakashi and Naruto had to come save her. She hoped this would have the same affect.

As wanted, Sasuke came from behind her and grabbed her around the waist. He was sure as anything, not going to let go. Especially after the sentence of torment he'd just been put through. Sakura was seriously disgusted as he whispered, "I will win," into her ear and tightened his grip on her.

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Itachi, having been watching the whole time, almost threw up. The word disgusted did not even begin to explain the emotions dwelling inside him. His brother was holding Sakura. Itachi twitched. This wasn't something he wanted to see. Just as Itachi was about to leave he saw Sasuke and Sakura's lips press together. Angrily, he stormed off to another training ground. He needed to vent his current agony.

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(I really wanted to end it there as a slight cliff hanger but I seriously want to write this now.)

Sakura's eyes widened as Sasuke kissed her. She pushed him away and instinctively slapped him across the face. The slap sent Sasuke flying into a tree and as he hit there was a sickening crunch. Sakura gasped. Sasuke was lying still for what felt like forever. Finally he moved and groaned, "That hurt Sakura." He was rubbing his reddened cheek gently and stared at the floor. "Well good. You shouldn't have kissed me." Sakura waited for a bit, but the hit seemed to have taken a lot out of him. "I guess I win our little challenge then." She smiled happily and took out a rope from nowhere. Tying him up she murmured, "Whatever is going on at the village meeting, just know, it was all Tsunade's idea." Sasuke just 'Hn'-ed and Sakura picked him up (wedding style: Hahahahaha) and headed for the meeting, all playfulness gone. Sasuke was unhappy that he was being carried by Sakura but on the bright side: he was being carried by Sakura. He sighed and wiggled closer to her. She didn't say anything but her face was hard and unresponsive.

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Itachi, all hint of emotion gone, returned to the Hokage and waited with her for the meeting to start. Sakura came out of nowhere holding a very annoyed and red cheeked Sasuke. Seeing this scene almost made Itachi laugh. Almost. Now that everyone was here, Tsunade stood up and faced her people who were whispering about what they thought this was all about. "Today we have a new shinobi of Konoha. Most of you may know him. I want you all to know he is being watched by one of our best kunoichi: Sakura." At that comment everyone turned toward her and she blushed madly. Tsunade continued, "This shinobi is Uchiha Itachi." At that many whispers broke out, Sasuke's eyes widened considerably and he started to wiggle and thrash around, tied up in Sakura's arms. Sakura struggled to keep Sasuke restrained as Itachi appeared next to Tsunade. Then something came to Sasuke. He stopped wiggling and stared at Sakura. Disbelief and hurt flashed across his face as he asked, "You knew? This whole time you knew?" Sakura's blush gave away the answer. He fell silent and limp. "You can let me go Sakura. I won't do anything." Sakura did as he said. He forlornly got up and started walking away. Sakura stared after him. She may not love him anymore, but he was her teammate, her friend, and she hurt him. It was for Itachi's, although mostly Sasuke's, protection. The younger Konoha citizens didn't mind Itachi but, the elders didn't like it at all and were in outrage. Tsunade told them to calm down and Itachi to go back to Sakura's place.

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**Okay. That's a chapter. I know. It's still short but, I tried. It's about a hundred words more than last time at least. Thank you for reading. Review if you want to. I don't even care if it's a flame.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, just so you all know this is started on ****Monday ****9-2****4****-07. I hope the following chapter is to your liking. ****I totally just noticed that my very first chapter had 1,900 words but my most recent only had like 1,400. Sorry for the lack of words. **

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Just as Itachi started to leave, a black blur was seen and had it been any other ninja they would've been knocked down but, this is Itachi so he was able to catch the blur's foot before it could make contact with his face. The blur stopped and revealed itself to be none other than Sasuke Uchiha. (Dun dun dun!) Sakura gasped before turning red in violent fury. He…tricked…her. Of all people it was Sakura. She would not stand for this. How could she have been so stupid? She ran toward Sasuke and gave him her hardest punch in the face which was greeted with a sickening crack. Sakura proceeded in beating Sasuke to the ground until Itachi pulled her off of his little brother who had a broken nose which was gushing blood.

"As much fun as it is to see people suffer, I believe it was me he was after." Itachi stated, clearly not interested in fighting. The people were in either amazement, shock, or went to go get ramen quickly to enjoy the fight. Itachi put Sakura down and faced his brother. Sasuke immediately stood up and got into a fighting stance. Itachi however turned around and motioned for Sakura to follow. "Come Sakura. I don't want to waste the people's time here." Sakura started to follow, giving a deadly glare in Sasuke's direction. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "So you're just going to back down like that?" This made Itachi stop. He turned around to face his brother and explained, "I only walk away because we are shinobi from the same village and there is no need to fight." The people that had gone to get ramen had come back just in time to hear him say that and they were really angry that they left for nothing. Itachi turned his back on the shocked, eye-twitching Sasuke and took off with Sakura.

Tsunade, who was watching the whole thing while drinking her sake, now, told everyone that the meeting had ended and that they should leave.

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Sasuke sat next to Naruto in the training grounds. "I mean she didn't even tell me and she expects me to be sorry. He killed my entire clan. He hunted you down. Doesn't that count for any thing? Am I just supposed to forgive him for all that?" Naruto nodded but replied, "She didn't tell you because of all that 'avenger' stuff you had pulled not too long ago. Sakura-chan was just being reasonable. Plus, you liked him when he was a kid. You even trained him and taught him Chidori. You never even taught me that. Why can't you teach me the Chidori?" Sasuke's ears perked up at kid. He was more confused than Naruto when he found out. The blank look on his face was completely priceless. His mouth hung open and his eyes grew wide and shiny. "Koji was Itachi?" Naruto nodded, unsure of how his teammate would react. First Sasuke paled. Then he made up for it by turning red in rage.

Poor Naruto had to restrain a very angry and deceived Sasuke until he finally calmed down.

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Sakura stayed in her room since they got back. She could still feel Itachi's arms around her waist. It was rather awkward to be near him after that. She didn't know what had possessed her to hit Sasuke like that. A big part of it had to do with Itachi but, what part? Sakura used to 'love' Sasuke. What had happened to them? Sasuke had never shown interest in her until about the time Itachi came as a chibi but, he didn't know about that. She had just outgrown her childish crush and didn't realize it until Itachi came. It was strange how her relationship with Sasuke revolved around Itachi. 'What is it with me and Uchiha's?' Sakura couldn't help but think. Changing the subject, Sakura hadn't had a mission in forever. Then it hit her. She would take her mind off all Uchiha's with a mission.

She left for Tsunade's office with hopes that it had nothing to do with Itachi.

…Boy was she disappointed…

Sakura was given a mission…with Itachi. They were to check out a small unnamed village for any missing ninja while disguised as an engaged couple after getting a tip from Sunagakure. Sakura's eye twitched. Tsunade saw it but did not worry. She would take out her anger on Naruto. Sakura took the scroll the Godaime had given her and left for home. 'Why?'

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Itachi sat peacefully in complete silence. '5…4…3…2…' Sakura slammed through the door angrily. She went straight to her room and slammed that door too. Itachi sighed and stood up from the floor. He walked calmly and quietly to Sakura's door. He knocked and waited for Sakura patiently. She opened the door hesitantly. Her small, creamy face was still flushed, making her look just as beautiful. "Is there a reason you are so angry?" He asked looking into her deep emerald eyes. 'They complement her and look so beautiful……where'd that come from?' She looked at him, her face only filled with mellowed anger. "You're the reason. I can't seem to get you out of my life and I wanted some time by myself on a mission but, Tsunade-sama gave us the mission together." The words rushed through her mouth and forced to surface. Itachi didn't see that one coming. Why were women so moody and unpredictable? **(No offence to those of the female persuasion. I myself am a girl. It's just that some guys really think that.)** Itachi walked passed Sakura and into her room. It was white and had just had clothes strewn across the floor. He walked to her bed where the scroll was and picked it up. Sakura just stood there, motionless. She looked so tired. Itachi moved all the stuff from the bed to a small table and undid the bed. Sakura gave a small squeak of protest and confusion. He walked back to Sakura and led her to the bed. Itachi forced her to lay down in her confused stupor. "Sleep." He ordered and walked out of the room before closing the door.

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Sakura still lay on the bed, shocked. Had he really…? Now Sakura was even more confused than Sasuke when he was more confused than Naruto. (?) Trying to sort things out in her head, Sakura quickly fell asleep. She didn't see the torture that was to come.

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Sakura woke up and did her morning routine before going and knocking on Itachi's door. There was no answer. She slowly opened the door. Itachi wasn't there. 'He must be waiting at the gate or eating ramen.' She left her place and headed to Ichiraku's ramen bar. What she saw made her gasp. Ichiraku and the other girl, whose name escapes me, were lying dead. She ran to Tsunade's office. Opening the door frantically, even Tsunade and Shizune had been taken down. This was bad. Unable to really think, she put her hands together and whispered, "Kai," but it was to no use. This was no Genjutsu. It was real. Sakura had to see if her friends were still alive. At the door to the Hyuga household, were more bodies; Hinata and Neji being two of them. She was almost in tears but she, so far, refused to make them seen. Sakura ran to Ino's flower shop but the Yamanaka's and too seen an early end. She couldn't bear to think about the blood pouring out onto the floor.

Little by little she found more of her friends dead and she couldn't even revive them because that would just be a life for a life and not much would be gained in doing so. It was especially painful to see Lee (the real one) on the floor with a giant hole straight through his heart and spilling both blood and some intestines, which sickened Sakura. Who could do such a thing?

Sakura ran for her life. Bodies lay strewn on the village ground. Blood seeped onto the hard, cold dirt and seemed to cover every inch of land. Sakura ran from one to another. Everyone in the village had been mercilessly slaughtered. The village was filled with blood; endless blood. She was the last one. She started running; yelling for Naruto or Sasuke. She finally came upon them. She fell to her knees at their dead bodies. Sasuke's throat was slit rather gruesomely and he was stabbed several times. Naruto was even worse. Naruto had been tortured. Gashes ran along his face and torso. A final Chidori had killed him off piercing his heart like Lee only worse. Sakura finally broke down and started crying. She was totally helpless and useless. It was just like years ago. Sasuke was right. She was weak and would always be. "I really hope you're a bit more of a challenge than they were, Sakura-_chan_." Sakura froze. She slowly looked up to meet such familiar eyes. They looked like Sasuke's. They were a bloody red. The prominent lines were nicely defined on his face. The signature Uchiha smirk was plastered on his face but, instead of looking cool-headed, he looked deadly and filled with blood lust. His long hair was tied into its usual ponytail. On a normal occasion, she would've thought his face to be handsome. Today it filled with hate, revenge, and was stone cold. "I-I-Itachi…" Sakura barely managed to stutter. Itachi smirked wider, chuckled, and raised his sword, ready to attack. Sakura started screaming, paralyzed by fear. Itachi brought down his sword quickly and….

---

Sakura was woken up by a pair of strong hands that were shaking her out of her nightmare. (Was it obviously a dream? Yes, right?) Sakura saw the onyx eyes and started struggling to push him away. She was still screaming. "Sakura! Sakura! Wake up already!" Itachi was trying very hard to fully wake her up after he was taken out of his peace by her shrieking. Finally Sakura was fully awake and stopped struggling in Itachi's steel grip. Her breathing was heavy and she looked pale. 'Even in the worst of times, she still looks like an angel that has gotten lost.' Itachi wasn't so surprised by his own thoughts this time and just pushed them aside. Right now he needed to figure out why she had been so alarmed.

"Get a-away f-from me." The words cut Itachi like giant, chakra draining, suicidal swords that would really hurt. He couldn't understand why he felt this pain. "Why?" It came out as a weak whisper that Sakura had to strain her ears to catch. Tears dwelled up in her eyes. "You killed Naruto." That too was a whisper but Itachi heard it clearly. Relief washed over him and he sighed. "It was just a dream Sakura. I wouldn't do that if it would hurt you. I can prove it. Let me get the phone so you can call him." (Do they even have phones? Oh well.) He left the room for only a moment and came back, already dialing the number. As it started ringing, he handed it over to the shaking Sakura. The loudmouth voice was probably heard all across Konoha. "YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD REASON FOR WAKING ME UP AT 2:00 IN THE MORNING!" Color came back to Sakura's face and a small smile crossed her face. "Hello Naruto." "Is that you, Sakura-chan? Why are you calling so early?" His voice was lowered but still echoed throughout the room. "No reason. I just had a bad dream, that's all. I just wanted to make sure of something. Arigato, Naruto." She bid him goodbye and hung up. Her eyes shyly met Itachi's and apology was written all over her face. "I'm sorry. It seemed so real." Itachi just nodded and walked out in order to figure out his thoughts.

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**Okay, so far that's 2,037 words if you include notes. That's the longest chapter ever. Sorry it took till Sunday but hey. It's longer then usual. **** I'm so happy right now. Please review. I really hoped you were at least slightly tricked by the dream. Well, I don't mind if you weren't. PLEASE REVIEW.**


	12. Chapter 12

**I can't believe it. Chapter 11 was my longest chapter (most words) but the first still looks longer because it has more paragraphs. I worked hard on the last chapter and it's still short. T.T **

**Oh and that reminds me. I'm so glad I fooled at least one person with the dream. –****Insert**** happy face here-**

**I just found out that in the Shippuden episodes Deidara dies (I think). So just ignore that, okay?**

**I don't own Naruto no matter how much I want to.**

**---**

"Failures….I should punish you for this but; I won't because I want you to actually finish the job this time. Itachi is to be brought here alive or dead. Do you understand?" The Akatsuki leader said to Kisame and Deidara at the hideout. The two nodded solemnly.

"Good. He will be staying at this address. Oh, and while you two are there, take care of the pink-haired one. She will be traveling with him and I don't want her to get in our way." He ordered, handing over a written address on a piece of paper.

He himself had ordered that mission expertly to make it seem like an anonymous tip. It was genius and he couldn't afford to lose another member of this organization. Besides he heard this 'Uzumaki Naruto' was a friend of the pink-haired brat. Perhaps they could use this to their advantage.

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Sakura stayed up the rest of the time thinking about how stupid she'd been. If he was going to kill the village he'd at least be a little more subtle about it. How could she have blamed him like that? Dripping in fresh guilt, she got up from her bed and walked over to the door.

She opened it as carefully as it would allow and crept to Itachi's room. Sakura hesitated. She wanted to knock but if he was sleeping it would wake him up. So she just opened the door, just as quiet and peeked in. He was sitting on the bed, looking out the window at the bright, full, moon. He reminded her, at the moment, of a stone sculpture that was made to absolute perfection. It was his eyes, the portal to one's soul they say, that perturbed her. They were troubled and slightly hurt. Was she the one that put such emotions in place?

The peace was interrupted as Itachi's attention was turned to her. She let out a small gasp at the sudden movement. Finding her courage she managed to squeak out something.

"I'm sorry. The dream was just so real and…" Sakura's voice trailed off and she now found the floor to be more fascinating then it had ever appeared before. What shocked her most was his response to her pathetic apology. "It was all I could expect from one who lives with a man that killed his own clan and left his brother to loath him…" Itachi could stand the agony no longer and was forced to ask. "Do you still love Sasuke?"

It was the question that bothered him to no end. He needed the answer or he would surely go insane. The sound of Itachi's voice as he asked reminded Sakura of the kid she took care of not too long ago. It was about 24 hours if she was correct. "No"

It seemed that saying helped her believe it only more than she already did. Sasuke wasn't her love but, rather, he was a teammate; a friend. Completely unable to stop herself, she walked over to where Itachi had turned his attention back to the beautiful moon. Her arms locked around him in an embrace.

It wasn't awkward. It was comforting and the silence only added to that. Sakura sat down on the bed next to him, her arms unmoving.

Sakura and Itachi fell asleep, finally, in each others presence.

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Itachi woke up the next morning feeling unusually calm. His eyes were drawn to warmth next to him. Soon after falling asleep, Sakura had cuddled close to him and rested her head on his chest. Itachi's arms had found their way around Sakura's waist in a protective embrace. He actually blushed (OOC-ness right there) slowly reclaimed his arms and pulled himself away. He checked the clock. It was time for the mission.

He poked Sakura's shoulder. She grumbled and turned the other way. He poked her shoulder again. It felt childish but, if he got her too angry it wouldn't be pretty.

Sakura's eyes fluttered open to find herself in Itachi's bed. There was a moment of sudden shock. She bolted up and looked up to see Itachi. His hair was rather messed up and was everywhere, his onyx eyes were shining with slight amusement, and a little smirk was delicately painted on his face. She took one look at his hair and burst out laughing. It was hilarious.

Itachi then demanded to know what was so funny before she pointed at his head and couldn't control her laughing fit.

It took about 20 minutes for them to stop laughing, shower (in different bathrooms!), get dressed, and got ready for the mission. It took a bit longer actually because, Sakura couldn't stop teasing him about his hair. They rushed over to that mission room you see on the show so much.

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Tsunade looked at the pair standing in front of her. "Did you spend time with Kakashi before you got here or what?" She demanded. Sakura shrugged. She looked more relaxed than yesterday. She seemed to be at complete ease with Itachi as well. Good. She needed to tell them the bad news.

"There is some news and I'm not sure how you're going to react to it. There is reason to believe that this tip is false. That means that someone wants this to be seen, whatever it may be. I want to send another Konoha shinobi with you. Seeing that most of the other Jonin are out on other missions as of today when you were late, there aren't many options. The real problem is that the only one available is Sasuke."

(I just love torturing them all.)

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They all met at the gate of Konoha. Each was disguised differently. Sakura's hair was now a light blonde; her eyes, now a bit bigger, were the same onyx as an Uchiha. She had to play the part well. Itachi's hair was also different. It was a dark brown and only up to his shoulders. His eyes were now a baby blue and the lines on his face were completely gone. Sasuke was normal but, all three were dressed as civilians. Neither of them said a word as they took off from the village.

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Sasuke ran from tree to tree, ahead of them both. It was disgusting. Sakura couldn't care less about him, but when it came to the man that killed his clan, oh no. She was with him every moment of the day so far. Sakura is supposed to be his; all his.

The sound of Sakura's voice addressed to him felt rare now. When it finally did happen she called them all to a stop. He didn't bother looking at her and just waited for her to talk to Itachi. "Sasuke…we're going to have to go the rest of the way on foot. Tsunade-sama wanted you to be disguised as-"

Sasuke interrupted her. "I know what she wanted me to do." Angrily, Sasuke got down from the tree. Sakura started muttering something incoherent. Itachi however was trying to stay neutral in this war, although he was the cause of it.

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It had been only two hours since Sakura and Sasuke's cold conversation. Sakura felt she couldn't stand the awkward silence any longer. She motion for Itachi to stay behind for a while as she sorted things out. Itachi nodded and walked a bit slower. She then ran to catch up with Sasuke, who was about 40 feet away.

"What do you want?!" Sasuke demanded. He was in serious need of a punching bag and some counseling. Sakura put on her best hurt face. She didn't have to act much; that one hurt. "Sasuke, why are you so angry?" She mumbled.

That made Sasuke freeze. "Why…am I…angry?" He turned to Sakura, his eye twitching.

Warning: the following has a lot of yelling and caps lock.

"YOU LIVE WITH MY BROTHER! DO YOU THINK I'M OKAY WITH THAT?!?!? NOW YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO ASK WHY I'M ANGRY! HE KILLED MY ENTIRE CLAN, SAKURA!"

Sakura stood there, looking like a beaten kid that had been yelled at. The indescribable feeling of a moment ago turned to boiling rage.

"DO YOU THINK THAT I DIDN'T KNOW THAT? HE KILLED THEM, YES, BUT, NOW HE IS A MEMBER OF THE VILLAGE. DEAL WITH IT!!! How was I supposed to know that, of all people, it was Itachi in the forest? I thought he was just a kid, Sasuke. Do you think I'd be the kind of person to just leave him there?"

The last part (no caps lock) was said in complete whisper and Sasuke had to strain his ears to hear it. They'd stopped walking now and Itachi was walking far ahead of them, knowing they needed some time alone. He was trying his very best not to get so angry at the yelling. It bothered him greatly to have Sasuke yelling at Sakura like that.

Sasuke was calmer now as well. "…Sakura…I'm…sorry. I overreacted. It's just hard to get over what he's done. This mission…is probably going to be one of the hardest. You'll have to be so close to him on this. I just don't like it…I can't guarantee that I'll be calm about anything." It was probably one of the hardest, most truthful things the youngest Uchiha had ever said. Sakura smiled at him. "I'm fine with that." She took his hand and continued walking.

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By the time they got to the village, sun was about to set. For the act, although it could've been more, Itachi and Sakura came into the village holding hands with a small blonde kid with them. Apparently, their story was that they were an engaged couple that was taking Sachiko's (Sakura) nephew with them. The cover up names were Sachiko (again…Sakura), Koji (Itachi. It was easier to remember), and Shinji (Sasuke).

(From now till I get bored of it, I will be calling them by their cover names)

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Koji turned to Shinji and smiled. "Shinji-kun, why don't you go and play for a bit?" Shinji looked really annoyed but walked away to a group of kids and asked if he could play with them. Sachiko looked slightly amused. Koji smirked and took Sachiko to a more deserted area of the place.

It was a peaceful walk and they didn't have to say much. To anyone they looked like a young couple on a casual date. Finally breaking the silence, Sachiko turned to Koji and said, "We should get Shinji and check into the hotel. It's getting dark."

Koji nodded and turned back, smirking to himself. This engaged stuff was a really good way to become close to Sakura.

**And so… there goes another chapter that I thought up at the last moment. I have to go do homework now. Bye. Review please.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello again. I hope you've like the story so far. I've been trying to find a way to end it so I can work on something else. I seriously doubt, though, that any thing would be better than this and that's because I'm not so sure about this one. I've gotten a slight idea about the ending. It's obviously going to be a few chapters later because I haven't even gotten to the 'good part' yet. I want action, romance, and blood! What I'm trying to say here is: any ideas for me at all? I'll take just about anything that fits into the story and if it's what you readers want then I have no reason at all to deny it. POWER TO THE READERS!**

**Now that the crazy moment is over: I don't own Naruto, Gaara (tear), or even the extras that nobody knows. **

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Kisame looked at Deidara. Neither of them had a plan at all. It had been stupid that they actually listened to Itachi the last time. They needed to go to him, bring him back, and they would be on the leader's good side. 'How' was the question but, what was the answer? (Ne, that's starting to sound like the quote, "To be or not to be; that is the question."-Hamlet I think )

Their trip to the village hadn't taken long. The last thing to happen was some couple coming to the village with a kid. "Hey, Deidara, do you think someone told them it was a trap? They should've been here by now."

Deidara sweat dropped. "They're probably disguised, un." It had been obvious. They just needed a way to find out which people were them. It was not going to be easy.

Then it hit Kisame. This village has no ninja. No one can completely suppress their chakra, which means that there must be a chakra trail somewhere. That would lead them right to Itachi. Kisame told his devious (and obvious) plan to Deidara. Deidara stopped and looked over at Kisame one more time. _'Maybe he isn't so useless but, he'll never be as smart as Sasori no Danna.'_ Deidara kept his thoughts to himself but, couldn't resist saying, "I thought of that five minutes ago, un."

Kisame sweat dropped.

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Sakura lay down on her side of the bed. Sasuke had seriously protested when he found that Itachi and Sakura had to share a bed for the mission while he was stuck with sleeping on the sofa. Itachi had really tried to reason that it was only for the mission and once it was over, Sasuke could take the bed. Sakura had sweat dropped on this one. She could hardly imagine Itachi sleeping on the couch.

"I can't imagine that." She stated, making her thoughts known. Sasuke just grumbled and asked, "Why did I have to be the chibi?"

"You're the chibi because you look better that way." Sakura commented dryly. Sasuke hung his mouth and stared at Sakura. She'd never said any thing like that before. Sakura's laugh was the only sound for a bit.

"I was joking, Sasuke. You're the chibi because Tsunade-sama assigned Itachi and me to be the couple." At her explanation, Sasuke grumbled and lay down on the couch. He pulled the blanket over him and decided to at least try to go to sleep.

The last thing Sasuke saw that night was Itachi turn off the lights and curl up next to HIS Sakura. Sakura closed her eyes sleepily and moved closer to Itachi.

Sasuke was too sleepy for any of this to actually register in his brain so that was a good thing.

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They found them. It had been obvious. They'd snuck in without causing suspicion but, their boss wanted them dead so they were going to kill them. Now that they knew where the enemy was it would be all the easier. Kisame frowned. Itachi seemed very close with this pink haired brat. It wouldn't be easy at all.

"Deidara, we attack now." Kisame gave the order and Deidara stuck his hands in his pockets and smirked. Then he showed his latest works to Kisame. It was a small spider. He set his creation on the window and jumped back as he yelled, "Kai!"

The wall in front of the two Akatsuki members blew to pieces but, it also blew the formerly unconscious Sakura, Itachi, and Sasuke into the other side of the wall. Itachi looked up to his old 'teammates'. It was amazing how much his point of view on them and their goals had changed since becoming a chibi, and more importantly: being with Sakura.

His wobbly legs actually supported his weight as Itachi stood up to face the people he used to consider his friends (well, almost). Kisame and Deidara looked pretty much the same but, the hate; the hate in their eyes stood out more than before. They didn't care at all and just wanted to get this over with. Was he ever like that? He looked down at his unconscious brother who was still in his blonde chibi form. Yes. Yes, he was like that.

"Itachi…it's been so long…leader misses you back at the base (Does that sound gay to you?)…I'll give you one chance to come back of your own will before I take you by force, un." Deidara said, bored. This was old.

"You will not touch him!" Sakura yelled suddenly standing up next to him. She was putting on her black gloves. She was serious about this and would do anything to defend Itachi.

Kisame laughed but knew not to be too arrogant around this one.

"You should learn to quiet down, gaki. We're right here and there is no need to scream. You might wake the rest of the village." As if exploding half a hotel room didn't already. Kisame teased her with his words but, was tired of talking; he wanted to fight now.

He grabbed his giant chakra-draining sword and held it in front of him. This should be easy seeing at how Itachi had gotten soft. "I don't know what leader sees in you…you're too soft for an Akatsuki!"

With that, Kisame charged at the two Konoha ninja as Deidara stuck his hands into his pockets again to make more art.

In a flash Itachi closed his eyes and opened them to reveal his usual Mangekyo Sharingan (Dun-dun-dun!). Seeing as Kisame and Itachi had been on the same team, they had never been in combat where Itachi used Mangekyo Sharingan on him. It was a good thing because now Kisame had to just try and there was no guarantee that he wouldn't get caught in a Genjutsu.

Sakura ran towards Deidara, whose hands were still in his pockets. He tried to dodge but to no avail. Sakura punched him hard in the stomach with full force before moving at blinding speed and kicking his ribs from behind. Deidara was never a close combat fighter. He had to hurry with the clay.

So far Kisame was doing a pretty good job of avoiding the Genjutsu and managed to land a chakra draining hit twice. Itachi had gotten his share of hits too. Itachi had been able to punch Kisame three times.

Just as the little forgotten chibi on the floor started waking up, Itachi made very familiar hand seals and busted out the Chidori on Kisame's shark-like, scaly face. The scene made Sasuke stand up quickly and release the chibi jutsu. He couldn't help but stare at Itachi using the Chidori. It was…weird.

Seeing as Sakura was doing more than fine attacking Deidara, Sasuke decided to vent his anger on Kisame instead. If he accidentally hit Itachi, it was an accident wasn't it? He smiled and performed the same seals as his brother. The shriek of a thousand birds cracked throughout the small village which was complaining but didn't want to interfere with the battle between the freakishly strong ninjas.

Sakura wasn't as lucky with fighting Deidara as she had been before. They'd jumped off the high hotel room to the ground below as to have more room. Deidara pulled out of his pockets a small clay snake. "Kai!" With that he brought the snake to life.

Unfortunately, it was quite a fast snake and was able to catch Sakura. It encircled her body and started to squeeze her tighter. She was completely helpless now. Her face was quickly turning blue and she barely managed to gasp, "I-Itachi!"

Itachi's head turned and saw Sakura being strangled. Sasuke saw it too and it was a race between the two Uchihas. They left Kisame alone and ran to Sakura. Itachi was faster than Sasuke and was able to slash open the snake just in time with a kunai. He then used his Mangekyo Sharingan and got to trap Deidara in a Genjutsu.

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_Deidara looked around at the vast space around him. He was tied to a wooden post. __Itachi appeared out of nowhere. _

_"You have hurt Sakura-chan. For that you will pay dearly. You will be trapped her for the next 96 hours." _

_'He called Sakura, __**chan**__? Does he feel that greatly about this gaki?'Deidara couldn't help but question his old partner's behavior._

_Itachi grabbed his sword and several other sharp, pointy objects. Smirking, he t__ook the objects and stabbed Deidara repeatedly. Deidara groaned and screamed in pain. Itachi was showing no mercy and was hitting every vital spot he could reach. The pain continued. _

_Deidara couldn't stand it any longer. From this extended torture he could certainly die._

_Finally, Itachi looked into Deidara's eyes. "I shall keep you alive only because you were my teammate but, __if you ever harm anyone I care about again, I will kill you."_

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**Sorry it's shorter but, ****I wanted to get this out before Tuesday. **

**XD**

**Later from,**

**Depthoffury-chan**


	14. Chapter 14

**I'm sorry if this chapter is late. I'm starting this on Saturday and I'm a slow typist. Sorry. Thanks to all that reviewed or added this as a favorite or any thing else I forgot****….O also, I need ideas. Please?!?**

**I Don't Own Naruto but, I watch it on the computer**

**0o0o0o0o**

During Deidara's torture, Kisame ended up attacking Sasuke, which was part of the reason that Itachi got there first. It was a bad mistake. He should've gotten after Itachi because now Sasuke was so mad. It was curse mark time.

Sasuke immediately used the second curse mark form. (He looks like a girl in that one.) He formed the Chidori in his hand. He was steaming mad now. Kisame got his sword and prepared for the blow. Sasuke ran at him full speed and pushed the Chidori at him. It was Sasuke's Chidori against Kisame's heavy, chakra eating sword.

It didn't last very long and the sword shattered. The moment the Chidori touched Kisame's tough skin was the moment Deidara dropped to the floor from torture.

Sakura was dumbstruck and couldn't move. While Sasuke was still beating on Kisame, Itachi walked back over to Sakura. She was in complete shock and couldn't move.

"…Sakura?" He asked cautiously. He was just about to touch her when the Deidara on the floor left in a puff of smoke. Shadow clone! Itachi didn't notice because he was still trying to coax Sakura from her state of shock.

The real Deidara came out of nowhere on a giant bird and snatched Sakura from Itachi.

"Kisame-san, lets go." With that, the bloody pulp Sasuke had been still beating disappeared and reappeared on the bird, completely healed.

Sasuke was about to go after them both but, Itachi stopped him.

"It would be useless to go now. I have used Mangekyo Sharingan and you've used your curse mark. We should rest, call for help and then proceed."

Sasuke couldn't believe this. "What! Just a few minutes ago you ran to save her! Now they have Sakura! They could kill her! We have to go NOW!"

Itachi sighed at the stupidity of his brother. "They would not kill her. They want me and their going to use her as bait."

Sasuke was still angry but, was willing to comply. He calmed down and got an empty scroll. This wasn't going to be good.

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Naruto's fist crashed down on the table in front of him. He was obviously very angry. He could feel the red chakra leak thru the seal placed by the Fourth Hokage. Sai and Kakashi, who were with him at the time, stared at him.

"Save it for the Akatsuki, Naruto." Kakashi said trying to calm him down with no prevail.

Naruto shook his head. "We leave now. Sakura-chan needs us."

(Wow that's the first time I mention Sai. I'm not going to say much about him because I know nothing about him except- and correct me if I'm wrong- he becomes part of team 7 and doesn't feel emotions. He also calls Sakura a hag. I don't even know how to pronounce his name. On with the story!)

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Itachi, Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi, Sai, and Shikamaru were gathered up thinking about what they could do.

Shikamaru was frustrated. The best way, so it seemed to him, was to just break in and have back up in case. Nothing would work. He couldn't think of a way at all.

Sai looked over at the seemingly hopeless 'genius', "Are you really that stupid?" His expressionless face was staring down Shikamaru's lazy one.

Naruto interrupted, "Now is not the time! We have to save Sakura-chan!" His face was filled with rage and a bit of the Kyuubi chakra was starting to spill out. His eyes were blood red and there was a big killer intent coming off of him. Sai didn't seem to want to notice.

"Why do you seem so intent on rescuing the hag, anyway?"

This angered Itachi (and Sasuke) who wasn't even 10 feet away. A soundless kunai passed Sai's head and even cut off some of his hair. It landed on a nearby tree and it exploded on impact.

"Next time I will not hesitate to kill you. You will not speak of Sakura-chan as such in my presence." Itachi commanded. He was ignorant of the shocked stares that followed. Not only did he defend her but he called her 'Sakura-chan'. There was a big change indeed of his ways. Sasuke looked at his older brother in wonder.

_'I wonder what Itachi and Sakura have done together. They seem too close to just be friends.' _

Sasuke was greatly bothered by this but, decided not to pursue it.

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Sakura groaned. Already she could feel she was drained of most of her chakra and there wasn't enough to rid her from the tough chakra rope she was restrained by. The chakra rope bound Sakura's wrists and ankles. She could tell she had a large bruise somewhere on her ribs because it was killing her. Sakura observed her surroundings. It was a stone room with a thick steel door and a thin wooden door. Smartly, there were no windows unlike those stories where the enemy gives them any chance possible for the hostage to escape.

She sighed. The thin door was obviously to a bathroom of some kind and the other one was self explanatory.

_'Why'd this happen?'_

'**It happened because you are weak!'**

It was Sasuke's old voice that got to her. He never called her that now but, the memory was fresh and it still hit her like when she was training with Chouji.

**'You are worthless and weak! You are a disgrace to all shinobi!'**

This time it wasn't Sasuke's voice but, Itachi's. She couldn't help but wonder if that's what he really thought of her. She hadn't thought of the possibility that he might not feel as strong for her as Sakura did for him.

Just like that, Sakura was finally able to admit it to herself. She, at the very least, liked Itachi more than a friend.

**'I don't know why I even waste my time on you. You are not worth saving.'**

The final voice was the one that broke her heart. It was Naruto. Did he think she was a burden all these years? The questions ran through her mind on a rampage and she finally screamed, "NO!"

Sakura was breathing heavy and blacked out.

-------------------

Kisame smirked to the rest of the Akatsuki members. "It seems the hallucination gas worked better than planned. She should be experiencing her worst fears in her dreams by now. Soon we will turn her against them all. She will be ours to control."

Zetsu snorted. "They'll probably get her by then."

There was then a very big quarrel over what they all thought would happen. They even ended up taking bets. Here it its:

--

**Sakura gets away on her own…………2**

**Itachi breaks her out…………5**

**They actually succeed in their plan…………2**

**The leader had voted for both the second and third option.**

**--**

(I have this picture where it has some Akatsuki members on it. There were 11 if you count Itachi and Orochimaru so I took them out and left only nine. If you want to inform me on any thing leave a comment. Review and no the chapter obviously isn't over yet.)

00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00

Itachi and everyone else were outside the hideout that Itachi had shown them. So far, they were making it all up as they went. Oh, well…

Itachi gave the orders, "Naruto you brake down the door and-"

He was, sadly, unable to finish his sentence because they were ambushed by a group of the people that the Akatsuki managed to control (they want to do that to Sakura). It was terrifying.

One by one they were taken down. No matter how good a fight they put up, the strange shinobi were able to beat them. They also had the advantage because of the surprise attack they had managed to do. So because of Konoha's shinobi all fell. They then left them all near death. The leader would be out to see to them personally.

00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00

Sakura woke to find Deidara standing in front of her. Her vision was blurry and she forgot where she was. "I-Ino?" Deidara frowned. He looked at her closer, "Try again, un." That's when it clicked and she started to try to back away from him but, her bruise and the chakra ropes kept her from doing so.

Sakura groaned from the pain once more. Deidara got a bit closer. He started forming hand seals as Sakura struggled to get away. It was a jutsu that was meant to be used with caution because it temporarily removed the small mouths on his hands for the technique to work.

He laughed at her squirming and pressed the palm of his hand to Sakura's right arm, right below the shoulder (kind of like where they would put the AMBU symbol). Sakura screamed as his hand burned a mark into her flesh.

He waited for her to stop screaming before saying, "You will work for us now, un." Only then did he finally walk away.

Sakura was able to stay conscious this time. Her arm no longer hurt; in fact, it felt better than before. She looked down at the weak chakra ropes and snapped them without trying.

Standing up, she tried the door to find it had never been locked, or Deidara-sama had forgotten to lock it. She walked out into the hall and saw the group of Akatsuki members huddled in a little room talking about a familiar lump in the corner. She walked up to them, outwardly unalarmed. They too didn't care.

Sakura was about to speak but was stopped, "Sakura is to come with me outside to witness her friends' demise." The Akatsuki leader motioned for Sakura and led her outside.

Sakura's inner was desperately trying to take hold of the body but the outer was stronger and was putting up a good fight. Her outer smiled maliciously as she walked over to Itachi's bloody body. He was truly handsome but, the blood was blocking her view of his face. She knelt down and wiped it off carelessly. His eyes fluttered at her touch.

"Sakura!" He yelled hoarsely. He couldn't gather the courage to call her chan to her face because of how Itachi thought she might react.

She looked at him intensely before slapping him across the face. Her face was cold and impassive. "I did not give you permission to speak, traitor." Her voice was cool and she at least looked level headed. On the inside her outer was still raging and demanding freedom.

The Akatsuki leader laughed and walked closer. Itachi's head immediately turned in the direction of the sound.

The leader walked closer yet and muttered, "It's been a long time, Itachi. Do you like my new weapon? Sakura can be quite valuable to us all."

"NO!" Itachi managed to yell before everything went, agonizingly slow, and black. The last thing he heard was Sakura's malicious laughing.

----------------------------------------

**Muahahahahahahahahaha! I'm so evil right now. (Other people: 0.0) I hope you all like this and um… if you all want to add your own poll to that stupid bet above, send it in a review. Later!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Wow. That was a fast week for me but, I ran out of excuses for why this is late so if you want one you can always ask Kakashi and maybe he'll tell you I got lost on the path of life, or something. Thanks to all that reviewed and other review-like things.**** I'm not sure but if you think the chapters are getting too angst then tell me. **

**I still don't own Naruto (man… You think they'd get the idea by now. I'm writing another chapter on a Naruto story; they might as well give me Naruto…..****earn some cash for this story you know.**

**--**

Itachi woke in a small room surrounded by the rest of the fellow leaf shinobi. They were all tied up with chakra draining ropes. Someone had healed them only so they could be tortured later.

The thought of Sakura crept into his mind and he was instantly in pain. 'Sakura…'

(Over all Sakura)

Sakura lay down in a small bed in a very small room. Battles between her possessed outer and her furious inner hadn't been settled yet. Both of them being Sakura, they were of equal power. Before, the only reason the inner was stronger was because outer Sakura had allowed it to be that way. Now, they were both truly even and the fights were taking its toll on Sakura's mind.

(Inner Sakura P.O.V)

I must win. If I lose then there is no hope. I will win! Shannaro!

--

The Sakura that Deidara came to check on was still lying on the bed. Her eyes were empty and blank and it seemed that thru all that, she was angry. She started clutching her head and her empty eyes grew wide.

She started screaming from all the mental stress. Her writhing body fell to the floor without notice and Deidara narrowed his eyes.

Somehow this gaki was fighting back to his jutsu which should have taken complete control over the brain (kind of like imperious curse from Harry Potter- yes I'm a fan of that too but I don't have a story).

He started forming seals and was about to attempt to redo the jutsu, but just as that was about to happen, Sakura managed to get to her feet and sat down on the bed obediently; the war was over for good. Deidara stopped and observed; she was acting just as he had left her earlier.

There was a pause……"I wish to torture the traitor…He deserves to die…" Sakura was granted her wish and she smiled evilly.

A few moments later she was in front of the door to where Itachi lay. Deidara followed along and watched as she tormented his old teammate.

"Sakura!" Itachi cried out. He wasn't begging for his life but, pleading for hers. He wanted her to remember him and not hate him. His ropes were preventing him from

Finally, Deidara decided to torture Itachi himself. He walked up slowly to Sakura. Itachi could do nothing but watch as Deidara put his arm around his little pink haired follower. His hands were leaving little kisses along her neck.

This made Itachi very angry and he struggled to get out of his binds. "GET AWAY FROM HER YOU censored!!!!!" He started calling her every bad name he could think of.

Deidara laughed and ignored him. Sakura wasn't reacting but, she wasn't pushing him away either.

Deidara put his arm around Sakura and pulled her close before leading her out of the room. This time she actually had a small smile on her face and leaned her head on his as they walked out while Itachi was still using his colorful vocabulary.

--

The moment they were out the door and it was firmly closed, Sakura picked her head of Deidara's shoulders and he removed his arms, practically pushing her away. Neither of them really cared for this and just walked separate ways, leaving the eldest Uchiha to suffer by wondering what they were doing now.

--

Sakura walked back to her room and made an utterly disgusted face. That's how she felt about herself. Acting or not, she had just hurt Itachi and let Deidara's hands kiss her. She checked a small mirror; she had small little marks all over where the Akatsuki member had trailed his hands. At least now she knew where they were keeping him. The look on his face terrified her and couldn't stand it. She couldn't break him out now, it be quite obvious seeing as Deidara saw her struggling. She had to wait a while and that tortured her.

The other Akatsuki members were gone. Ironically, the only ones left were Sakura, Deidara, Kisame and, of course the Akatsuki leader himself.

The leader had assigned, much to Deidara's horror, for said guy to 'keep an eye' on Sakura. From the video cameras all over this place, the leader thought Deidara would do much more than that.

So, Sakura was stuck within ten feet of Deidara at all times. It was complete torture. Finally, after about 20 minutes of torture, the leader called them all and said it was time to judge Itachi before distracting the Kyuubi from Naruto.

--

The four people stood at the doorway of the room and stared at them all. They were currently asleep (I know it seems like I'm just keeping the others asleep because I'm lazy and yes I am. Just pretend that when they healed the others, they gave them something that would keep them asleep for days.).

The Akatsuki members looked calm and actually amused by this. Sakura, if you knew her well enough, looked scared out of her mind. The leader kicked Itachi awake.

"Get up!" Itachi was startled and started backing away. (OOC-ness…again) He wobbled to his feet no matter how weak they were. It was amazing that he could even stand.

The leader looked bored and turned to Sakura. "Sakura, untie him….and kill him slowly. I want to see a good show."

Sakura did as she was told. Her back was facing the others so while she was untying him, for he was silent; she looked him in the eye and gave him a very small faint smile. She was afraid that maybe he didn't catch it but, his eyes widened just a fraction and she was tempted to just embrace him even if the rest saw.

As the roped fell, she stood back and her indifferent face was practically set in stone. He was obviously still weak but got in a fighting stance anyway and carefully watched Sakura do the same.

Sakura's mind was in overdrive. She needed to find a way to save Itachi and her friends at the same time. "How about we make a little deal? If I win, which is most likely, then you will receive what we think is fair punishment; if you win, then you can leave with all your friends intact."

The others said nothing because they knew who would win. It was only obvious.

Sakura smiled maliciously and awaited the opponent's attack.

**---**

**Sorry that it's short but I totally wanted a cliff hanger there. You all rock! Thank you all pplz and please be patient with my next chapter. All you people that manage to balance school and fan fictions, I totally admire you. Please review this incredibly crappy (to me) and short chapter. **


	16. Chapter 16

**I can be so evil sometimes. Hopefully when you read this, it'll be a good one without a cliff hanger. Just in case you caught any mistakes, this story is un-beta-ed or whatever. My Microsoft Word has spell check but, it doesn't always catch things. **

**Oh and I just found out: Deidara didn't die! Yay! Tobi has an annoying voice.**

**Once again…I still don't own Naruto –cries a lot- **

--

Itachi half smiled. He closed his eyes and awaited the pain but, it never came. He opened his eyes to see Sakura staring at him.

"What are you smiling at? Don't you know you're going to die?!?!" Sakura yelled, angry with Itachi's lousy acting skills. He closed his eyes again, this time getting serious. When he opened them, he revealed the Mangekyo Sharingan! (Dun-dun-dun!)

He was quite pleased with Sakura. She had managed to give him some of her chakra without any other noticing the act. He was now powerful enough to 'beat' Sakura. The others kind of gasped in a non girly way except for the leader because he was too cool to do it in any way.

Itachi appeared behind, not Sakura, but, Deidara and stole one of his kunai before plunging it into his back, where his lungs were. It happened so fast no one saw it coming. Itachi tried to do the same to Kisame but, the element of surprise was over and the blue Akatsuki member wouldn't fall for it now.

Sakura was stunned by Deidara's bleeding body and knew what she had to do. She ran over to the bloody blonde and laid her hands on the injury. A green glow was emitting from her hand as she destroyed the rest of the skin cells and punctured his vital organs.

To another, it might seem as if she was helping him, but no, she was far from that and would never resort to such a thing. Soon after every organ was starting to deteriorate, she sent her gaze to the leader who was still watching, only more excited. She calmly walked over to him and he looked at her questioningly.

"Why aren't you fighting Itachi?" Sakura explained that now that Kisame was fighting him, it should be just as interesting. He nodded, not giving it a second thought. She placed herself behind him. Now that she was to kill him, she wanted to see his real face, for he was wearing those weird hats that Deidara and Sasori wore in the first few Shippuden episodes.

"What's under your hat, boss?" Sakura tried to make it sound hollow but, curious. He did not bother to turn. "It is nothing an ex-shinobi from the Konohagakure should know."

Sakura gave a small pout as she silently stuck her hand into the holster tied around her thigh. Grabbing a kunai, she held it up to the Akatsuki leader's back and was about to strike when he disappeared. She let out a small gasp as a kunai was pressed against her neck, tightly, making a cut from which blood flowed freely. (Why am I always talking about blood?)

"Your loyalties still lie with the traitor and this displeases me greatly." His voice was smooth but somehow familiar, like she'd heard it before and only just recognized it.

Sakura held still as death as he brought his mouth closer to her ear so as no one could hear what he was about to say. "What have you been doing to my former-Akatsuki member? Been messing around, have you?"

The thought greatly angered her and fed to her already increasingly violent fury. She kicked back her leg, swinging it towards him…one more inch between them…She grinned, at the hit as he flew and hit the wall behind them.

As he fell, his weird hat fell off his head.

Sakura gasped, stumbling back a few steps. Before her was a man with spiky golden locks, deep sapphire eyes, and an all too familiar face. "No…" she barely managed to whisper. Her voice was locked into her throat, immobilizing her power of speech. She wanted to cry out and yell and demand why he was doing this to her. She had to gaze at her blonde friend on the floor to make sure they were two different people.

It was, as you may have guessed it, the Yondaime who was lying on the floor against the wall. Itachi was too deep in his battle that he didn't even notice. To Sakura, the rest of the world seemed to fade.

"Why?" it was all Sakura could think to ask. The rest of her brain was mush. The man who had saved his entire village was the leader of the Akatsuki.

He didn't bother to answer her but, just got up from the floor and started walking towards Naruto. He gazed down at the sleeping Kyuubi vessel and knelt down near him. Yondaime's hand outstretched to touch the boy that looked so much like him.

"Don't touch him! Don't even go near him!" Sakura cried out still unable to move her legs.

Without hesitation he placed his hand on Naruto's head. "Naruto-kun, my son, you will follow after me. You will go through my footsteps and prove to people that we are strong. You will be just like me and betray your village to any extent."

**(A/N: I have no idea who the Akatsuki leader is but, I saw the Yondaime as him online and decided to put it. I also don't know who Naruto's dad is but, come on: they are both blonde, both blue eyes, and why would the Yondaime seal the Kyuubi into somebody else's kid? It makes sense to me.)**

He then got up and turned toward Sakura. "You had wanted to kill me. Come…" He got into a fighting stance and awaited her move. Sakura realized that this was her only chance and she would take it, for Naruto, for Itachi, for Kakashi, for Team 7, and for her friends.

She took out her black gloves and slid them on. She was getting serious here.

**(The following is very bad fighting content and will most likely be very short. Warning: I am NOT good at writing fighting scenes. This is not a joke, it is horrible.**** Also please just pretend that the room they are fighting in is huge or maybe even outside.**

Sakura grabbed her kunai and flung it at her opponent. Yondaime (does anybody know his real name) dodged it with ease and chuckled. If she fought like this then he had a guaranteed win. He ran at her and threw a punch. She managed to block and summoned a small amount of chakra. Sakura's hand glowed green and she tried to get to a vital spot.

He jumped back, forming seals. He brought his hand up to his mouth and blew fire at the kunoichi. It seemed to fill the room with red light. She grimaced. She didn't really have any strong jutsu like Naruto or Itachi. It would only make this more difficult seeing as Sakura was a close range fighter and Yondaime was a long range fighter.

She got ready and ran towards him, creating shadow clones. They surrounded him and held up there glowing hands and started to advance.

"Why did you betray the village?!? You were their Hokage!" They all yelled at him, wanting to hurt him. He just smirked and didn't reply. What was with this guy and not talking? He threw a kick and spun around, making all of the shadow clones disappear and threw Sakura against the wall in the large room.

As she hit the white walls, he decided to finally talk. "I did it for power. I needed to get stronger."

Sakura seriously wanted to know why it seemed all the power crazy men were from Konohagakure.

She got up with some difficulty. It seemed that the kick to her side had broken a few ribs and a couple of torn ligaments. She put chakra into her hand and started to heal herself.

"You were already the Hokage! Why would you need power? You had already saved the entire village from the Kyuubi. Isn't that enough for you?" She challenged as she finished healing herself.

"It is never enough!!! Do you think I wanted to make my own son a Jinchuriki (is that it)? If I could, I would've harvested the Kyuubi's power and not seal it away but, I didn't have enough power and I wasn't good enough!" Yondaime explained.

It was kind of touching if you thought about it. "So, you created an organization full of missing ninja to gain more power to protect those who are precious to you? If that's the case then where were you when Orochimaru attacked the village? Akatsuki is hated everywhere. You want to protect people by destroying them? It makes no sense!" Sakura went on, inching towards her blonde teammate.

Soon she was close enough and she knelt down by him.

"GET AWAY FROM MY SON!!" Yondaime yelled at Sakura. He did not want her anywhere near him. If she and her friends corrupted him any further from him, then there will be no chance to bring Naruto to his side.

His words fell on death ears and all that was audible was the clinking of kunai from Kisame and Itachi's fight. She pressed the palms of her hands to his whiskered cheeks and a soft green glow emitted from it and she cut the ropes.

"…Sakura-chan?" Sakura smiled genuinely at the guy who felt like her brother.

---

Itachi panted, trying to keep on. Kisame looked weary as well and both were covered in small slices in their skin made by rapid flying kunai.

Dark crimson stained Kisame's blue skin and Itachi's pale skin.

This would be a fight to the death. Neither of them would give up now.

Itachi ran swiftly towards his old blue friend. Making several hand seals, he blew white hot fire, hoping that this could be over and done with as soon as possible.

Kisame got burned severely in the chest area. It pained them both to have to fight each other like this but; neither would give in to the other. Kisame summoned water and attacked the fire with it.

Just when it seemed no one would win, a giant burst of fiery red chakra was sensed throughout the entire area within a 200 mile radius. Checking, they saw Naruto covered in the seemingly endless chakra.

His teeth had grown long and sharp. The whiskers had become darker and more defined. Even his already spiky hair was even more pointed. The nails on his hands became into that of claws. Who knows when or if Naruto would calm down? It didn't seem very likely. ('Seem' must be my favorite word. I use it way more than I want to. Sometimes it's unintentional.)

"I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!!!" Naruto yelled and his voice was deeper; it was the Kyuubi's voice but, Naruto's words. This wasn't going to be good. (No. Really? –Sarcastic voice-)

**---**

**I am so sorry that was late. I don't even have a good excuse so, once again, go ask for one from Kakashi. TELL ME WHO YOU WANT TO DIE!!!!! It would be much easier that way. I hope the 'fighting' wasn't too crappy. Please review and I'll give you cyber candy! **


	17. Chapter 18

**Thanks for the info. It was very helpful. I hope this isn't too late because I went on a small weekend vacation with no computer or internet access. I hope those of you that reviewed got the lame looking cyber candy. **

**I still don't own Naruto….**

**---**

Naruto, in his enraged state, ran forward to his father and knocked him to the ground with a red chakra tail. He was looking at Minato (Hehe. I finally got the real name of the Yondaime. It's a good thing too because it was getting annoying to call him so formally) with blood lust. He wasn't going to calm down until this man before him was dead.

Though Sakura hated seeing him like this, she left him and ran over to the other to help bring them to consciousness. Her cool green chakra ran through them, one by one.

Minato was getting a bit angry himself. "Why do you even attempt to kill me? I am your father and you shall obey me! You will learn to follow in my footsteps and think as I do!"

Naruto started twitching and for, if only a moment, Minato thought he'd gotten thru to his son.

"You know, that only made it worse." Kakashi's voice came from behind him. His only visible eye was wrinkled into a small smirk.

---

"This is going to be fun," Sai said, a fake smile decorating his face as he ran to fight by Itachi, as instructed. Sai brought out his scrolls, ink, and brushes getting ready for intense battle.

Sai painted a fierce lion and sent it towards Kisame. With two opponents, Kisame was getting a bit distracted. The lion pounced and held the blue man down while Itachi threw shuriken and punches.

Kisame was getting tired; this wouldn't last much longer. His vision was obscured by his own blood and he would die. Itachi motioned for Sai to stop.

"Are you ready to give up, Kisame?" The shark man spoke no answer but he nodded his head, not wanting to die. Itachi smirked at his victory and motioned Sakura over to heal his friend. Kisame would perhaps be able to join Konoha like Itachi had done if the Hokage and the council let him live.

It was too bad the same couldn't be said for the beaten and dead Deidara. Itachi gave the blonde Akatsuki one last glance before heading toward the big commotion.

----

Naruto gathered all his chakra into his right hand. A giant red ball formed and Naruto's never-ending rage was going to be let loose on his father. "You will pay…" Naruto yelled and pushed his arm forward and hit Minato right in the stomach.

(You know how in the show, they always have the good guys win in like one weak-ish attack? I think I'll do that because I can't write action.)

So Minato was thrown across the room by Naruto's chakra and suddenly Itachi stepped between the two.

"Stop now, Konoha's shinobi shall deal with them another day. For now, let us leave while we can." It was not a question and Itachi tied up the man who used to hold some of Itachi's respect but, all that was gone now.

Minato's unconscious body was left where ANBU could pick him up later and they left the horrid room.

---

They all took provisions and other things they'd need on their way back and left the place without even glancing back.

---

Everyone was sitting around a small fire, just glad they'd escaped. Kisame was leaning against a tree. No one had really liked the idea of Kisame in Konoha but, Itachi made it known that if they touched his old friend they would have to sleep outside of the tents in the cold.

--

Everyone was able to fall asleep fast but, Sakura found it hard to. She looked at her sleeping blonde tent mate. Naruto looked so happy and carefree. Sakura wondered if Naruto would ever get really serious with Hinata and finally ask for her hand.

It seemed every one was taken except for her, Sasuke, and Itachi. Although, Sasuke had taken a sudden interest in her, she did not return the feelings. She wasn't sure how she felt about Itachi either.

Leaving the tent, she decided to go for a small walk near the stream that was close by. It was quiet and soothing. The voice of the stream was comforting. Finally, her eyes started to droop and her head started nodding.

--

Itachi had been up for a while now and was sitting on a very high tree branch. He was invisible to anyone below. Nothing had really happened until Sakura came out of her tent. Her usually flawless face was lined with uncertainty.

Itachi decided to give her some space but if she didn't' come back in about 20 minutes, he was going after her.

--

Time seemed to go agonizingly slow and it had already been the given time but, Sakura still wasn't back. Itachi got up from his branch and jumped down from the tree. Following the familiar chakra signature, he made his way to a small clearing near a softly flowing stream. He scanned the area and saw Sakura leaning against tree, sleeping.

Itachi walked softly so as not to disturb her. He picked her up, bridal style and started walking back to where they had made camp.

---

(**The following is most likely very crappy. I'm so sorry but, I'm trying my best here. Please say what you think of the following in a review.)**

Sakura groaned and snuggled closer to the warmth near her but, she didn't really like the slight swaying motion of walking.

"Hm…stop moving…" She mumbled groggily and moving closer to the unknown presence near her.

"Would you like me to put you down?" the voice was soft and familiar. Sakura shot straight up in his arms and almost bumped into his head. She couldn't speak.

For an eternity they were looking into each others eyes. Itachi decided it was best to explain this awkward situation.

"You fell asleep by the stream and I'm carrying you back to the camp." He kept walking without missing a step. Sakura exhaled her unconsciously held breath before laying her head on Itachi's shoulder. "Thank you," she felt that was all she could say at the moment without showing her shaky voice.

Back at the camp, Itachi put Sakura down and started to walk to his own tent, not saying a word. Sakura watched him walk. It hurt her that he would probably never forgive her for what she had done at the hideout.

"Wait," Sakura whispered barely enough for him to hear. Slowly Itachi turned around to see Sakura crash into him, sobbing softly and knocking him to the floor. She was hugging him and didn't seem to want to let go.

"I'm sorry Itachi…" Her voice was shaky and tears were coming out of her eyes relentlessly. He was confused to say the least.

"You must think I'm a horrible person." It only made Itachi more confused but, he returned her hug anyway.

"I don't know what your talking about." Itachi mentioned finally and cupping her chin. He wiped away her streaming tears with his thumb.

"B-but…the w-way I…treated y-you…" Sakura tried to protest but Itachi put his finger over her lips. He didn't know why but, it seemed like the words and actions just came to him naturally. He didn't even have to think about it.

"You did what you had to…" He paused, leaning closer. It wasn't long before there lips met. Sakura's eyes opened wide but, Itachi obviously playing around here. A rosy blush rose on her cheeks as their lips parted.

Sakura didn't know what this made them now. Itachi was just staring at her intently which made Sakura blush redder.

(**Ahhh! That was horrible! I blame it on my horrible imagination and inexperience. XD)**

"FINALLY!!!" Sakura and Itachi turned at the loud mouth's voice. The blonde was there smiling the biggest grin ever and was standing next to Sai. "You lose the bet! Hand over the money!" He turned to Sai, holding out his hand waiting for his prize.

Sai in turn, hit Naruto on the back of the head muttering, "Baka,"

Sakura sighed; those were her friends alright. Would they ever change?

**A/N: Honestly I am sorry that this is a short and late chapter. Also know that a holiday for me is coming up next week (Thanksgiving) but, I will try to update. I don't know if I will during Christmas though. (Not meaning intentional weirdness to those that don't celebrate these holidays) I hope that the chapter wasn't too horrible…**


	18. Chapter 19

**I just want to say thanks for all the reviews. I appreciate the support.**** I shall now try to type as fast as I can without sounding so lame. ****I'm sorry this is ****so ****late. I had two major projects to do over the weekend and I'm suffering from writer's block. I have no idea for the next chapter and I'm thinking of just ending the story in the next chapter or so…****I take ideas. **

**I don't own Naruto and there is no profit out of this story…**

The slowly rising sun gleamed on the horizon, only lighting half of the campgrounds.

Sai handed over a large sum to the blonde in front of him. He couldn't believe he didn't see that kiss coming. Naruto laughed taking the money and putting it in his old frog wallet.

Itachi and Sakura were still in the same awkward position and Sakura couldn't stop turning the brightest red.

In the perfectly bad timing, Sasuke came out of his tent to see Sakura sprawled over Itachi and Naruto and Sai staring at them. "I hope I didn't interrupt too much here," Sasuke muttered coldly. Sakura's head whipped over to his direction while Itachi was completely oblivious (or was at least acting like it) to why Sakura was so red.

Sakura hastily got off of Itachi and was presently looking rapidly from Naruto and Sai, Itachi, and Sasuke. It was really quite odd. Sasuke just turned and started gathering things. "It's getting late. Let's go."

Sakura nodded profusely and started helping the stoic Uchiha pack up. It took a while, with everyone but Sasuke staring at her. Sasuke couldn't help but think that Itachi was probably gloating to himself about his 'victory'. On the contrary, Itachi was far from thinking anything like that. He was actually wondering what Naruto and Sai were doing up so early.

Itachi decided to make his curiosity known, "What were you two doing up?" It was a question that absolutely demanded an answer. Naruto coughed and nudged Sai, motioning that his overly-pale comrade should answer. "We were merely spying on you and Sakura. It is nothing to worry about."

Itachi and Naruto's eyes started twitching at the explanation. Itachi's eyes flickered to blood red. Naruto immediately started scratching the back of his head and waving one hand, trying to dismiss the idea.

"Ne, Itachi-san, Sai was just joking around. We would never follow you and Sakura-chan." It wasn't much of a cover up, but it would ease Itachi for now as the Sharingan was put to rest. Finally, Itachi chose to get up to his feet and walk behind his brother.

"Otouto," Itachi beckoned for him to follow him. Sasuke kept putting away what little was left and threw one of Kakashi's perverted orange books at said Jonin to wake him up. Kakashi caught the book, opened it up to a certain page, sat up, and started reading in one smooth motion. It only proved how much of an Icha Icha Paradise fan he was.

Seeing Sasuke's rebelling behavior, Itachi spoke once again. "Otouto whether you come by will or by force does not change the fact that you will listen to me, if for five minutes alone."

**(Warning: The following is another crappy fighting scene. You have been warned.)**

Sasuke turned and sparked up black, electric chakra in his hand, screaming as he ran towards his older brother. The noise of the Chidori was all that was heard before a sickening crunch and another cry of pain. Itachi smiled as he caught Sasuke's wrist and broke it just like all those years ago.

"Does this seem familiar to you Otouto?" At those words, Sasuke broke free from Itachi's grip and threw a kick at Itachi's ribs. Itachi was about to do the same to Sasuke's ankle but, instead Sasuke disappeared and reappeared behind him, the unexpected kick throwing Itachi off balance.

Naruto, Sai sat down on the floor to observe the fight. Both of them were comrades but, the two of them would separate the Uchiha brothers if it got that far. Even Kakashi looked up from his perverted book to watch. Shikamaru, who had been sleeping the whole time, continued what he was doing. Sakura on the other hand, stood still as death (the dead kind, not the living dead).

The brotherly war waged on and Sakura thought to herself.

'It's been so long and yet I still can't move when my friends need me. Why am I so weak?'

Inner Sakura decided that now was the best time to take over completely.

Sure enough, Sakura's eyes gained an unfamiliar look of mischief and determination. Inner Sakura smirked maliciously, much like the possessed version of Sakura. In the middle of Sasuke's next kick, Inner Sakura ran in front of him just in time to catch his leg.

Sasuke stood with his ankle in Sakura's hands and Itachi behind her. "Let go of me Sakura." Sakura merely tightened her death grip.

Naruto and Sai stared in amazement. It was like a real life show.

"No…" Sakura replied, standing her ground for whatever he might do next. Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the word. She wasn't listening to him. "Sakura…step aside…now…" Sasuke was trying to remain calm at the moment. She finally let go of his leg only to punch him aggressively in the gut. Sasuke spat up a small amount of blood before his world went dark as pitch.

00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00o00

Sasuke's eyes fluttered open. Checking his surroundings, he saw that he was in the Konoha hospital. He immediately sat up, causing a burst of pain in his ribs. Sasuke looked toward the door in hopes of somehow appearing over there without moving. Instead of seeing just the door, he was greeted with a sullen Sakura, standing in the doorway.

She was looking at the floor, talking to herself aloud. "Why'd you do it?" It seemed as if she was answering herself as well but, only this time, in her mind. "I see. Shall you tell Sasuke or will I?" The last question confused him. Who else was here? "Yes, I think it will be better if I do it. It might be easier that way but, what do I say?" There was forever a minute's pause. "Yes, I understand. Thank you." She, only then, looked up only to see Sasuke staring right at her. "Oh…this will make things easier then."

Sakura walked slowly over to the stoic Sasuke. "I guess I better explain." She sat at the edge of the bed and looked deeply into Sasuke's eyes and started to begin.

**XD Yes I realize that it's very short but, this is where I wanted to end it and the writer's block can be hard to overcome. So, thank you for reading and if you want you can review. Please let me know how you want it to end. The ending is inevitable but, I don't know how to do it. I'll take ideas. Another reason this was so late was because I recently became obsessed with Fruits Basket. I used to wonder why everyone I saw at my old school would read it but, now that I watch it, I can't stop. I'm sorry the author's notes are longer than the paragraphs.**


	19. Chapter 20

**I'll try to make this chapter both enjoyable and reasonably sized. I also think that this will be the last chapter for this story so let's see what I can do…**

**Because this is most likely the last chapter then I'm obviously going to be late because I want to at least try to make it special.**

**I also just received a message that one of the things Deidara said sounded "funny" and I just noticed that you're right. It does sound like that. I barely noticed and I wrote it. That review gave me a good laugh. Thanks.**

**I, sadly, do not own Naruto, Itachi (even in his chibi form), Gaara –starts crying-, or even the characters that nobody likes or knows…there's always next year…or story…**

Sasuke looked into the eyes of the woman he had, at first, hated with a passion. After coming back from Orochimaru's clutches, he thought of her, not as someone who was just in the way, but, as a complete equal. Lately, Sasuke didn't know what to think of Sakura now. Her eyes…they'd changed a lot lately…Her eyes used to be the most trusting. When he came back from his avenger's ways, Sakura's eyes, though comforting, were not the same. They had been a little hurt, something Sasuke will always regret, and more professional. When Sakura put herself in front of him and defied him for the first time, what he saw was not her eyes. Those eyes had been too different.

"I can only imagine what you must think of me now." Sakura whispered, breaking Sasuke out of his reverie. He took another look at her now. Her soft emerald eyes held understanding and even a little bit of fear.

"What…no…who you saw back there wasn't me…at least, not exactly." Sakura started out slowly, trying to put her thoughts into words. "I have an inner personality inside me that can have a mind of its own. There are times when she tries to take over my body. This time she had succeeded. Normally, I would try harder to make sure that she doesn't interfere but, my inner says and does what I truly feel is right."

Sakura paused, hoping the information would sink in. "You wanted to stop me." It was not a question and it sounded like Sasuke only said it to reassure himself of the obvious.

"I hate it when you two fight. You both are brothers and each other is all you and Itachi will ever have. I know that he killed your clan but, he's willing to forget if you can forgive him. I only want you both to get along better. Perhaps it was wrong of me to pick him up that day in the forest." She stopped there and tried to stop the relentless and inevitable stream of tears but to no success.

Sasuke didn't know what to make of this new information. "No…It's not your fault Sakura. You did the right thing." He felt awkward telling this information to Sakura. "If anything it proves that my fighting skills lessen when I'm angry. You have a really strong right arm." He let free a small smile; not a smirk but, a smile.

Sakura saw this and threw her arms around Sasuke's neck in a soft embrace.

"Sakura," Sasuke and Sakura broke away from each other to find Itachi staring indifferently at the two of them. "I want to speak to my brother alone for a while." Because of his expression, it was impossible to tell whether he had something devious in mind. Sakura hesitated, not knowing whether she should leave or not. "You worry too much Sakura. I couldn't hurt him if I tried to." Sakura, though still hesitant, nodded and left the room.

--

Itachi turned to look at Sasuke fully but, his brother was looking down at the floor like a small child about to get scolded. The window behind him was open and provided a breeze that cooled down Itachi's seemingly invisible nerves. "Avoiding me isn't going to help, Otouto. I'm not asking you to forgive me but, technically I never did anything wrong." Itachi paused, wondering what to say now.

"Do you love Sakura-chan?" Sasuke asked, using the rare –chan at the end of her name. He needed to know before he would be able to move on. He needed to know before he could even try. "I know you can protect her if anything was to ever happen but, do you love her?"

"Love is a very strong word, Otouto." Itachi explained. "Don't do what I did." Sasuke whispered. "If you hurt her in any way, Naruto and I will hunt you down and give you as much pain as possible." Sasuke gave the threat wholeheartedly and glared at his older brother. "So, tell me. Do you love her?!?!"

Itachi thought over the question carefully in his head. Did her really love her enough to take her from Sasuke? She herself chose Itachi over Sasuke but, if his little brother was best for her then he'd step aside faster than the author could run away to avoid cleaning her more than very messy room. **(XD)** Itachi thought that he should decide now. It wasn't easy. This wasn't something he could erase and walk away if he didn't want Sakura anymore. Itachi bit his lower lip in determination and looked his brother straight in the eye.

"I love her," Itachi said almost shakily. It was a bit difficult to say it when he had just admitted it to himself in that very sentence. "Good," Itachi almost fell anime style; almost. "As long as I get invited to the wedding and get to be the best man, I'm fine." Sasuke joked and Itachi could barely make out the hint of a real smile. It was the first smile Itachi had seen since he was thirteen and would give Sasuke piggy back rides. Then what Sasuke said hit him. "Otouto, Sakura and I haven't gotten that far yet and Naruto threatened me that if he wasn't the best man, I wouldn't make it to the reception."

Sasuke sweat dropped. Then he, faking his anger, yelled, "Who says you're going to listen to Naruto?! I'm your brother so I demand to be the best man!!!" Seeing the joke, Itachi returned the smile though weakly. "Deal," Itachi clarified, extending his hand for Sasuke to take. Sasuke smiled again and took his hand in a handshake.

Letting go, Itachi turned and offered Sasuke to come with Sakura, Naruto, and him to get some ramen. Sasuke agreed but started muttering how the dobe would go on mercilessly about whether he should get miso ramen or that new unknown flavor they just released. Itachi chuckled. This day couldn't get more out of character or random.

Waiting in the hospital lobby area was, of course, Sakura. At the noise of their approach she immediately turned to look at them. It was obvious that she was relieved at the sight of them in tact. Itachi walked up and gave Sakura a bone crunching hug to an extent that Sakura started turning just a bit blue. At least she didn't pass out. Though it was awkward, Sasuke still managed to half smile during it all.

As they walked out of the hospital together, Sasuke couldn't help but feel that his work there was done. Now all he had to figure out was what work he actually did…They met up with Naruto and Kakashi in front of Ichiraku's ramen stand. It was like the original Team 7 but with Itachi in it. Whatever it was, it felt natural.

--

Sakura looked over at her friends and her sensei. They were all laughing together and eating ramen. Sakura did not expect anything would go this well. She looked at each of them carefully.

Kakashi, the pervert, had brought out his little orange book as always and was stifling a giggle. His hand was brought up to his face as if to cover an already invisible blush. "Yes, this is the best part," he murmured excitedly. He must have already read them. Perhaps she should buy him the latest one for his birthday…if he didn't already have it.

Naruto was still gulping down ramen, which after a hard decision, was still miso. He still fought with Sasuke from time to time. "Don't eat so much, dobe. You could get sick." Sasuke smirked. Naruto smiled as well, going along, "Don't call me dobe, you teme!" The fight went on for a while. Sakura sighed, they were still the same.

Finally Itachi, who she had known for not that long though it felt like forever, was eating his ramen slowly, watching the intriguing show around them. Sakura caught his eye and there was a slight awkward moment. Itachi smiled genuinely at her, his love.

It was perfect even if only for now. Sakura went on eating her ramen as well. 'Well, is there anymore surprises left for us all?'

**The Afterthought…**

Kisame ended up becoming ANBU and had a partnership with Itachi. He even found a girl that didn't make fun of his blue complexion. (I started out with this for those who wonder what happened to him.)

Naruto [finally proposed to Hinata. She had passed out but did except. Everyone went to the wedding and Sasuke was the best man. At the reception, Sakura caught the bouquet. Itachi was laughing for a long time after that.

Sasuke actually met a girl whose name was Yuki. (It's an original character. Unless there's a Yuki I don't know about.) They started dating and Sasuke found that he actually liked her company but he didn't get too carried away. They just started some casual dating and that was it.

Kakashi was supplied with the newest Icha Icha Paradise books and movies for being the number. It wasn't like he needed it though. He knew the author. Yay for knowing an 'Ero Sannin' as Naruto still calls him.

Itachi and Sakura didn't get married but it was implied that they might. Both Uchihas decided to live in the same house. It was their 'Uchiha Mansion' any so it didn't really matter. There was a nice peace between all of them and brought about and feeling of accomplishment. Now all they needed to do was help Lee with his overemotional problem that came around from time to time.

Lastly, the Akatsuki members were all caught and taken to the Kage of their home village. They would be judged on what their present Kage and advisors thought was best. Minato was held in prison and didn't want to give up the old days. Naruto said that when he became the Rokudaime, his father would still be kept in jail. Naruto visits him rarely when he wanted to know what his father was like. He may have been sickly misunderstood and can't really understand but Minato was still Naruto's father.

For a long time, life was great. No one thought it would change and with motivation for the author who loves happy endings, it might just stay that way.

---

**Okay, ****notice**** I still left it open for a sequel if I wanted to. I doubt it though. Chibi Itachi was such a success that I wouldn't want to ruin it with a horrible sequel. Not only that but, I have no ideas left. I also have a story that needs major work. I am incapable of writing two stories and keeping up with my ****'hard' school. (I bet some of you people have it a lot harder.) Thank you faithful readers because you have all made my story a good one. I'm surprised nobody flamed…yet…oh well. Perhaps you'll read my writing again someday. I make it sound like I'm leaving or dying but I'm not…that I know of…**

**Goodbye…see you next story…if it's good enough…**


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